Stat: ARC Finds Airline Seat Capacity Varies in Small Markets

A 6.8 percent increase in seat capacity across all small markets is being reported by ARC, who has released a study about the changes to airline capacity at airports serving smaller markets within the United States. 

The report looked at 411 airports with at least 2,500 annual passenger boardings, with no one airport accounting for more than 0.25 percent of the total annual U.S. passenger boardings. The study examined the first quarter of 2013 vs. the same period in 2014.

Highlights include:

  • Sixty-three percent of the smallest airports saw decreases, with an average decrease of 5.4 percent.
  • The largest percentage of increase across all airports was Mercer County Airport, New Jersey (TTN), which was up by 653.5 percent, with the largest decrease of -84.2 percent, seen at Augusta Airport (AUG), Maine.
  • Distance from a major airport did not play a significant role in any changes in capacity at the smaller airports.

The report, which was compiled using data from ARC, the FAA and Innovata, is available at the following link via Google Shortcut at http://goo.gl/5WrFU2