OAG: Published Schedules Indicate Highest Ever April
Figure
While the world's airlines continue to adjust their schedules
and capacity daily to meet fluctuating demand in the wake of
Japan's devastating earthquakes and tsunami, OAG's latest monthly
snapshot of airline activity reveals unprecedented capacity levels
planned for April.
The world's airlines are scheduled to offer 317.4 million seats
this month, according to OAG, a UBM Aviation company, in its April
OAG Frequency and Capacity Trend Statistics (FACTS) report. This
figure, the highest ever airline capacity for April, is 5% more
than the same month in 2010, or 13.9 million more seats, and
represents a 1.25% rise in the average number of seats per flight
schedule. Frequencies, too, are showing significant growth with a
3% rise, or 80,653 more flights scheduled to operate worldwide in
April 2011 compared to April 2010.
The fastest growing market by volume of seats is to and from the
Middle East, with an 11% increase in capacity year on year.
However, political events in the region will likely have an effect
on sustaining this level of scheduled capacity. In terms of
absolute growth, the intra-Asia Pacific region is the clear leader
with more than 6.2 million additional seats and 40,203 more
published flights this month against April 2010. Over the last five
years, figures within the Asia Pacific region have shown average
capacity growth of 7% compared to the global average of 4%.
"Japan is such a major influence on the world stage and no
region will be immune from the effects of the devastation. That,
along with the prevailing economic pressures and concerns about
rising oil prices, are certain to impact ongoing demand," said
Peter von Moltke, Chief Executive Officer, UBM Aviation.
The only regional market showing a reduction in overall
frequency this month is for flights to and from Central & South
America, although this drop is less than 1% and an improvement on
March figures when the reduction was 2.7% year on year. In sharp
contrast, the low cost sector is bucking this trend. Growth in
frequencies and available seats on low cost carriers is higher to
and from Central & South America than for any other region this
month, up by 28% and 27% respectively.
Analysis of the European market reveals marginal growth of 0.3%
in frequencies and just 2% in capacity for services within the
region. Even the low cost sector shows modest growth this month
with 3% more seats available year on year, compared to a 7% year on
year increase in March. Madrid, Cologne, Athens and Stansted all
showed a large absolute decline in capacity this month compared to
April 2010 with -3%, -15%, -12% and -14% respectively. "European
aviation has been relatively robust in meeting the industry-wide
challenges of the last decade, however increased competition from
rail operators and a variety of taxation changes in major EU
markets are starting to take their toll," continued von Moltke.
April figures from OAG show UK domestic services are taking a
big hit with a 14% drop in overall capacity and an 18% drop in
available seats on low cost carriers. Germany, too, shows a
significant reduction in capacity this month, with 5% less domestic
capacity overall and 11% fewer low cost seats available. "UK Air
Passenger Duty, although frozen until 2012, continues to have an
impact on business and leisure air travel demand, and we expect to
see further reductions in UK domestic services in our May figures,"
von Moltke added.
While North America's domestic air service has grown at 2% for
the month, it is the only region to record a drop in numbers
against April 2002, with both frequency and capacity figures down
compared to a decade ago. Additionally, for the first time, low
cost carriers (LCCs) now represent over 30% of available capacity
of the domestic US market.