Travel Within and To/From Europe Grows

Global airline capacity and frequency will grow in all regions of the world except North America in April 2010, which sees declining capacity and frequency within the region, when compared to the same month last year, reports OAG (www.oagaviation.com), the global leader in aviation intelligence, in its monthly report on trends in the supply of airline seats and flights.

Monthly analysis of the OAG schedule information indicates that the total global number of seats available in April is increasing 6% over 2009. The total number of seats available in April 2010 is 303.4 million, compared to 287.3 million in April 2009. Worldwide, airlines will operate 4% more flights in April 2010, as compared to April 2009.

Growth within and to and from Europe remains steady this April, over April 2009. Travel To/From Europe grew 6% in total seat capacity and 8% in the number of flights. Within Europe, seat capacity grew 4% and the total number of flights increased by 2%, month-over-month. Airports in Europe with steady growth include Frankfurt, which increased capacity by 2% to 6.0 million; and Madrid, increasing capacity 2% to 5.98 million.

“Good growth in airline capacity and frequency is being seen in regions of the world that have experienced sluggish growth for years. Africa and the Middle East continue to show significant increases while in previously strong regions, such as North America, capacity has remained flat,” said Peter von Moltke, Chief Executive Officer, UBM Aviation.

The highest percentage change in seat capacity to/from a region, again this month is to and from Africa, with an increase in the number of seats by 18%, year-over-year; the number of flights to this region increased by 19%.

Traffic within Africa increases this month by 9% in the number of flights, and 10% in seat capacity.

The number of seats and flights to and from the Middle East increase 9% and 10%, respectively, in April. Within this region, seat capacity increases 15% and the number of flights by 13%. Other significant growth is occurring within Central and South America where capacity and frequency will increase 16%; and within Asia/Pacific with a 10% increase in seats, and 11% increase in flights.
“All regions, except North America, continue to show solid growth in capacity and frequency.  North American carriers are cautiously monitoring demand and traffic trends as they refine growth strategies,” continued von Moltke.

The only region not to show growth in April is within North America, where capacity declines 2% and frequency by 3%. Capacity to/from North America, however, is growing, with the number of seats increasing by 2%, and flights by 1%. The small growth in this region can be seen at San Francisco International Airport, which increased capacity by 4%; Baltimore Washington International also by 4%; Miami International by 3%; and Los Angeles International and Atlanta Hartsfield both by 2%.

OAG FACTS uses interactive graphs to display performance trends of specific airports, routes, countries or regions from 2001 onwards, sourced from OAG’s consolidated database of global airline schedules. A more detailed review of this month’s OAG FACTS statistics – including information about specific regions, routes and airports with illustrative charts and graphs – is available to download here

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Analysis by Region

Africa
The number of seats and flights To/From Africa increase 19% and 18%, respectively in April. As compared to April 2009, there will be an additional 1.11 million seats and 5,885 flights this month. Within Africa, seat capacity increases 10% and flights increase by 9%.

• Travel from London (LHR and LGW) To/From Africa increased 16% in seat capacity and 17% in frequency.
• Travel from Frankfort (FRA) To/From Africa increased 16% in capacity and frequency.

Figure 1:Seat Capacity to/from Africa

The Middle East
The number of seats To/From the Middle East increase 9%, to 10.60 million seats, and frequency increases 10% to 48,888. The seat capacity and number of flights Within the Middle East are scheduled to rise by 15% and 13%, respectively. Total seat capacity offered is 6.50 million and flights scheduled to operate are 42,448.

• Travel from Rome (FCO) To/From the Middle East grew 31% in seat capacity and 33% in frequency.
• Travel from Madrid (MAD) To/From the Middle East declined 14% in seat capacity and 13% in frequency.

Figure 2:Seat Capacity within the Middle East

Europe
Seat capacity To/From Europe grew with 6% and frequency grew 8% in April 2010 over April 2009. Flight operations within Europe have increased 2% to 562,304, and available seats increased 4% or to 69.13 million over April 2009. 

• Travel from Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) To/From Western Europe increased 25% in seat capacity and 24% in frequency.
• Travel from New York (JFK) To/From Western Europe declined 3% in seat capacity and 9% in frequency.
• Travel from Hong Kong (HKG) To/From Western Europe declined 12% in capacity and 13% in frequency.

Figure 3: Flight Frequencies to from Europe

Asia
The number of seats To/From Asia Pacific increase 7% to 13.59 million, and flights increased 8% to 55,142. Traffic growth Within Asia/Pacific was stronger, with capacity increasing 10% and frequency 11%, resulting in a total of 86.70 million seats and 573,423 million flights.

• Travel from Madrid (MAD) To/From Asia Pacific increased 22% in seat capacity and 28% in frequency.
• Travel from Paris (CDG) To/From Asia Pacific declined 3% in capacity and by 5% in frequency.

Figure 4: Flight Frequencies within Asia/Pacific

Latin America
To/From Central & South America increased 3% in total capacity and 2% in frequency to 9.65 million seats and 59,414 flights.  Within Central & South America,the number of seats offered increase 16% to 20.82 million, the number of flights increase 16%, as well, to 205,426 when compared to April 2009.

OAG FACTS enables you to see trends at-a-glance. An easy to use tool providing the latest data on current airline activity around the world. Updated monthly, it uses interactive graphs to display a visual trend of the performance of a specific airport, route, country or region from 2001 - 2010.