Despite decreases in capacity and flight frequency on North Atlantic routes, global airline capacity for November 2009 shows positive growth compared to November 2008, reports OAG, a leading aviation data business with its monthly report on trends in the supply of airline flights and seats. The world’s airlines have 285.4 million seats available this month, a rise of 3 percent over November 2008 levels. Global frequencies are up 1 percent compared to November 2008, with a total of 2.3 million flights for November 2009, despite an average North American frequency decline of 2 percent.
The transatlantic market between North America and Western Europe shows an 8 percent decrease in capacity year on year, representing 434,467 fewer seats. Frequencies are down 10 percent, representing 2,144 fewer transatlantic flights for the month. Within Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East there have been a strong increase in frequencies.
“We continue to see growth in global capacity, even with major increases and decreases in hub frequency and capacity compared to a year ago, which would tend to indicate a shift in how travelers are being routed around the globe,” David Beckerman, vice president OAG Market Intelligence said.
Worldwide, frequencies and capacity in the low cost sector are both up by 8 percent, compared to a year ago, accounting for 424,458 flights (18 percent) and 62.6 million seats (22 percent).
Analysis of all hubs reveals that frequency and capacity to and from certain hubs reflects positive growth of more than 30 percent, with some showing reduced traffic and a negative growth of more than 20 percent. Leading the growth is Rio de Janeiro (SDU) with a 39 percent increase in flight activity and 49 percent increase in seat capacity. Kiev on the other hand, shows a large reduction in flights (30 percent less) and in seats (28 percent less).