OAG reports on seat numbers

The December report by airline timetable provider OAG (Dunstable, England), says that it is clear the continuing weak economy, airline consolidation, high fuel prices and fragile yields make it difficult for airlines to invest new capacity in some markets.

OAG says there are a number of areas, routes and airports that are suffering declines and the reasons behind them vary considerably.

The global growth in scheduled airline seats for December 2011 is 3%.  As usual, Asia and China capacity in particular are high growth markets for airline capacity investment.

The decline in the US domestic market can be traced back to December 2004, with brief and shallow growth between 2006 and 2007.  The small growth in 2010 seems to have not been sustainable.  Average seats per aircraft in this market have risen slightly, from 93 in 2002 to 96 in 2011.  More interesting is the rapid decline in US domestic capacity as a share of global activity.  Alongside the decline in the US has been a rapid growth in markets from China to Brazil, as well as the growth of the low-cost sector.  What nine years ago was 32% of the world capacity, the US domestic scene now only represents 21%, of an expanding market. www.oag.com

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