Global Air Capacity is Up 1.04 Percent, But Growth is Slowing

Published on: October 9, 2009

Global airline capacity for October 2009 is showing positive growth of 1.04 percent compared to October 2008, down slightly from September's growth of 1.4 percent, reports OAG, the aviation data business, in its monthly report on trends in the supply of airline flights and seats. The world's airlines have 299.9 million seats available this month, a rise of 1.04 percent (3,091,580 more seats) over October 2008 levels. David Beckerman, vice president OAG Market Intelligence, said, "We're seeing continued growth in global capacity even with slight decreases in frequency across Europe and North America as we go into fall, which would tend to indicate a trend towards re-evaluating less popular routes.” Frequencies are marginally down compared to October 2008. The world's airlines have scheduled a total of 2.4 million flights for October 2009, down 1 percent (24,445 fewer flights) compared to the same month last year. Last month, the year-on-year global frequency figure was down 0.6 percent and capacity was up 1.4 percent. The low-cost sector is slowing in growth as a whole, however. Growth is strong in the Middle East, with 12 percent more flights; Latin America, with 54 percent international and 48 percent domestic capacity growth; and Africa, with a 9 percent increase in flights. For more information, visit www.oagaviation.com.