Low Cost Sector Continues to Show Growth with Frequencies and Capacity Up 10%

Global airline capacity for December 2009 shows positive growth compared to December 2008, reports OAG, (www.oagaviation.com) the world’s leading aviation data business with its monthly report on trends in the supply of airline flights and seats. There are 294.8 million seats available this month, a rise of 4% over December 2008 levels. Global frequencies are up 1% compared to December 2008, with a total of 2.4 million flights scheduled for December 2009, despite an average North American frequency decline of 2%. Worldwide, frequencies and capacity in the low cost sector are both up by 10% compared to a year ago, accounting for 444,539 flights (18%) and 65.6 million seats (22%).

John Weber, senior vice president OAG Aviation, said, "Global capacity continues to rise, boosted by worldwide increases in both frequency and capacity in the low cost sector, which would tend to show us that travelers are choosing to fly airlines that offer more economical choices. This increase in December 2009 capacity recovers the global pull-down of minus 10 million scheduled seats in 2008 and brings us back to the pre-crisis level of December 2007, but the characteristics of many markets have fundamentally changed," Weber continued.

Analysis of major routes reveals that frequency and capacity on certain routes reflect positive growth, while others are showing strong decreases. Leading the growth is traffic between Western Europe and Africa with an increase of 19% (3,883) in the number of flights and an 18% increase in seats (710,129). However, between Western Europe and North America there is a 9% decrease in the number of flights and an 8% decrease in the number of seats.

Frequency and capacity between North America and Central/South America are up 5% compared to December 2008. A hubs analysis shows that Beijing has seen an impressive 10% increase in the number of flights and a 9% increase in seats, while Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport shows a negative growth of 6% in the number of flights and a 4% reduction in capacity. A similar trend can be seen for other major European hubs, with flights at Amsterdam Schiphol down 7% and seats down 6%.

Capacity Growth of 4% compared to December 2008

The world’s airlines have 294.8 million seats available this month, a rise of 4% over December 2008 levels.

Frequencies are also up compared to December 2008 with a total of 2.4 million flights scheduled for December 2009, an increase of 1% compared with the same month last year.

Low Cost

When looking at the global figure of scheduled passenger flight operations below, the Low Cost sector accounts for 444,539 flights (19%) and 65.6 million seats (22%).  Worldwide, frequencies and capacity in the Low Cost sector are both up by 10%, compared to a year ago. 

Analysis by Region
Flights to and from Europe show a positive growth compared to December 2008, with 4% more flights and 3% more seats. Flight schedules within the region have declined by 2% but there is a marginal increase of 1% in the number of seats offered.  Total flight activity within the region is 500,913 with 60.9 million seats.

The number of flights operated within North America reflects a reduction of 19,860, amounting to a 2% drop compared to December 2008.  The overall seat capacity is reduced by 3% while international frequencies have seen a marginal increase of less than 1% with 623 more flights compared to December 2008. 

Hubs
Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport shows a negative growth of 6% in the number of flights and a 4% reduction in capacity. A similar trend can be seen for other major European hubs, with flights at Amsterdam Schiphol down 7% and seats down 6%.  London Heathrow traffic has shown minimal movement, with a 1% increase in frequency and 1% decrease in seat capacity. Brussels Airport has shown a drop with a 6% decline in frequency and 5% in capacity. 

The Middle Eastern airports unsurprisingly show a strong increase.  Frequency and capacity at Doha are showing a 9% and 14% growth respectively.  Dubai reflects an even stronger growth, with a 13% increase in frequency and a 15% increase in capacity.

Changes in frequencies at Chicago O’Hare are minimal with 316 less flights and a 4% (259,110) decline in seat capacity.  Frequencies at Dallas Fort Worth are up by 3% (1,524) and capacity increases by less than 1% (24,597).

Beijing has seen an impressive 10% increase in the number of flights and a 9% increase in seats.

Latin America continues to experience growth in air service within the region, with a rise of 4% in frequencies (8,178 more flights) and 12% in capacity (2.3 million more seats).  Operations to and from Central and South America show an increase of 5% in both frequency and capacity. The low cost sector in this region is seeing a healthy capacity growth of 42% within Central and South America and 34% to and from the region.  

Traffic within Asia shows a noticeable increase this month with 39,194 more flights and 6.8 million more seats than in December 2008.  This is a 7% increase in flight operations and 9% increase in seat offerings. For services to and from the region, there is an increase of 4% in both capacity and flights. 

The Middle East region continues to reflect a strong positive growth.  The number of flights and seat capacity within the Middle East is scheduled to rise by 19% and 23% respectively.  Total flights scheduled to operate within this region are 43,518 and seat capacity offered is
6.6 million. Similarly, flight activity and seat capacity for travel to and from the region also reflects a strong increase of 10%, representing a frequency of 48,286 and seat capacity of over 10 million.  

Africa is experiencing good growth again this month with frequency and capacity to and from the region both up by 16% (4,935 more flights and 993,356 seats). Air service within the region is showing an increase with a 6% rise in the volume of flights and 8% more seat capacity.

Analysis by Major Routes
The OAG figures between Western Europe and the Middle East show an 11% increase in flights and 10% increase in the number of seats.  However, between Western Europe and North America there is a 9% decrease in the number of flights and an 8% decrease in the number of seats.

Traffic between Western Europe and Africa reflects an increase of 19% (3,883) in the number of flights and an 18% increase in seats (710,129) compared with December 2008. 

Services between North America and Central/South America are up compared to December 2008, with flights and capacity both up by 5% between the regions.

Airlines operating transpacific routes show a negligible increase and are offering 0.07% (2,012) more seats this month compared to a year ago.  There are 184 less flights on this route, amounting to a 2% reduction.

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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 - 2009.