Airline capacity increasing, report shows

Global airline capacity is showing a year-on-year increase for February 2010, marking the sixth consecutive month of growth, according to a report from the Official Airline Guide (OAG).

A total of 272.7 million seats are available this month, five per cent more than in February 2009.

Flight frequencies have increased by four per cent year-on-year, with 2.2 million air services scheduled over the coming month.

OAG revealed that both frequency and capacity are higher this year on flights to and from the majority of global regions, including North America, Europe, Africa and Asia.

Mario Hardy, a spokesman for OAG Aviation, said: "This month, a number of new routes are being launched; the Asia Pacific region shows 174 new routes with a large number of them from Chinese carriers.

"In Europe, the Middle East and Africa, there are 210 new routes dominated by low-cost carriers."

The report identified a number of individual hubs that are showing "impressive growth" this month, including Sao Paulo and Bogota in South America and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

Posted by Merv, 12 February 2010 14:19

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