Highlights:
¦ Worldwide airlines plan January sale of 266.5 million seats
¦ Airlines scheduled 114,000-plus flights to/from the US/Canada this month – comparable to 2005
¦ Domestic demand shows year-on-year downturn
¦ Low-cost international flights up 20 per cent
Worldwide, airlines will operate nearly 2.3 million scheduled flights this month, the highest number of January flights since 2001. This equates to approximately 266.5 million seats available. The number of flights is two per cent higher than in January 2005, while the number of seats is four per cent higher.
This month airlines worldwide will operate more than 114,000 scheduled flights – equivalent to nearly 18.5 million seats – into and out of Canada and the USA, equivalent to that of January 2005. Domestically, US carriers have decreased their scheduled capacity by five per cent.
US carriers have planned for a three per cent growth in North American transpacific traffic this month, and are expecting transatlantic travel demand to be two per cent higher than in January last year.
The era of low-cost international travel has arrived. Latest figures from OAG show a year-on-year increase of 20 per cent in low-cost flights to and from North America. “While the actual number of low-cost international flights is still relatively small, this percentage growth cannot be ignored,” says Joe Laughlin, VP Sales and Marketing for OAG Americas. “Having grown accustomed to cheaper domestic flights, consumers are looking for longer-haul bargains, and airlines are responding to market demand.”
Internationally, Africa is showing the largest increase in aviation activity, with airlines planning 12 per cent more flights this year. Middle Eastern schedules are ten per cent higher, and the Asia-Pacific region is showing growth of nine per cent. To and from Europe, airlines have added eight per cent more flights into their schedule, while there are two per cent more flights planned into and out of Central and South America.
These figures are highlighted in OAG’s latest Quarterly Airline Traffic Statistics, a regular snapshot of airline activity around the world. OAG collates data from more than 1000 scheduled airlines, on a daily basis, to give an overview of anticipated travel demand.