Continued Growth in Global Flights and Seat Capacity in June

WASHINGTON, June 3 /PRNewswire/ -- OAG (www.oag.com) reports that the 2010 summer travel season will open with positive growth in worldwide seat capacity and frequency in June. In the monthly FACTS report on trends in the supply of airline seats and flights, worldwide seat capacity shows an increase of 7% to a total of 318.2 million seats in June from 297.5 in 2009. The total number of flights will increase 6%, over the same month last year, increasing to 2.6 million from 2.4 million. June's schedule growth is consistent with May's, which showed year-to-year increases of 6% for seats and 5% for flights.

Airline schedules show increases in June for all regions of the world except for routes within North America, where a 0.5% decrease in flight departures is planned and seat capacity is expected to be virtually flat.  

Capacity restraint is led by the United States, where a 0.2% drop in domestic seats is scheduled for June. When comparing June 2010 to June 2007, the last year of growth for U.S. domestic capacity, the cumulative drop in capacity is 8.6%. U.S. international capacity, however, grew 5.1%, year-over-year, with the cumulative change from 2007 to 2010 of 0.3% decrease in seat capacity.  Over the same 3-year interval, worldwide flights grew by 2.8% and seats by 7.7%.

"Airlines are scheduling for strong demand in air travel throughout most of the world this summer, with the exception of travel within North America, which remains flat. U.S. carriers are being cautious not to increase capacity too aggressively, having learned a lesson from the past when over-capacity was a key contributor to their economic woes," said Peter von Moltke, Chief Executive Officer, UBM Aviation.

All other large regions show healthy capacity increases including seats within Central and South America, where seats are expected to rise by 16.8% to 21.4 million; within the Middle East increasing 12.8% to 6.7 million; and within the Asia Pacific region expecting an increase of 10.1% to 87.2 million.

Although growth drops below the double-digits, it is still strong to and from Asia Pacific, which is expected to rise by 9.9% to 14.4 million. Seats within Europe are scheduled to increase by 6.7% to 76.9 million, and seats to and from Europe to rise by 7.4% to 24.2 million.  

"The largest percentage increases are scheduled for routes to and from Africa, where both seat capacity and flights are expected to rise by 18%, to a total of 7.4 million seats, and 38,177 flights. This large increase could be due in part to South Africa hosting the World Cup, beginning June 11 and going into July. Johannesburg airport alone will see an increase in capacity of 14%, or an additional 282,200 seats and a total of 2.3 million seats, during the month," said von Moltke.

The number of flights scheduled in all regions other than North America will grow, with an increase to and from Europe of 9.2% to 108,010 in June 2010. Total flights to and from Asia Pacific will increase 11.3% to 60,030; to and from the Middle East by 12.3% to 51,662; and to and from Central and South America by 9.3% to 57,661.

This data comes from the June 2010 edition of OAG FACTS (Frequency And Capacity Trend Statistics), a monthly report that uses interactive graphs to display performance trends of specific airports, routes, countries or regions, sourced from OAG's consolidated database of global airline schedules. A more detailed review of this month's OAG FACTS statistics – including information about specific regions, routes and airports with illustrative charts and graphs – is available to download at:  http://www.oagaviation.com/aviation-reports/reports-facts-0610.htm.

About OAG

OAG provides the industry's most accurate single source for airline information, with essential aviation data and analytics sourced from its comprehensive proprietary airline schedules, fleet and MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) databases. OAG is a UBM Aviation business. For more information, go to www.oagaviation.com.

About UBM Aviation

UBM Aviation a global data and information business for the air transport industry. UBM Aviation serves the passenger aviation, air cargo logistics, MRO and business travel communities with information products, market intelligence, news and events. It brings together buyers and sellers of air travel and transport, enabling the world's airlines, their customers and suppliers, to do business successfully. UBM Aviation operates from offices in the UK, USA, Canada, Singapore, Japan, China and The Netherlands. It is a division of United Business Media Limited which is listed on the London Stock Exchange (UBM.L). For more information, go to: www.ubmaviation.com.

SOURCE OAG