August’s North American Air Traffic At Lowest Level In 10 Year…
CHICAGO, Aug. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ –
– Region loses nearly a million seats
Scheduled flight operations within North America will be at their lowest
August level for 10 years, according to the latest statistics from flight
schedule data market leader OAG (http://www.oag.com), a UBM Aviation brand.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110908/NY64578LOGO )
The OAG FACTS (Frequency and Capacity Trend Statistics)
(http://www.oagaviation.com/OAG-FACTS/2012/August-Executive-Summary) for August
2012 reveals that this month there will be 953,083 fewer air seats offered
within North America compared with August 2011, with 21,401 fewer flights. For
the year to date, decreases of two per cent in flights and one per cent in seat
capacity have been experienced compared with the first eight months of 2011.
"Against the backdrop of a slowing economy the North American region is
experiencing general consolidation of its internal scheduled air services,"
said Rob Shaw, Director Analytics.
"This is partly the natural consequence of the well-publicised airline
mergers of recent years, but it also reflects the strategy of individual
carriers in a tough trading environment: reducing capacity to maintain fares at
a profitable level."
Only three of North America’s top 10 hubs (San Francisco at 7%, Charlotte
at 5% and Toronto at 4%) will show significant growth in seat capacity this
month, while capacity at Chicago O’Hare will drop by three per cent.
Middle East shows fastest long-haul growth with Dubai the key hub
North America’s flights and seats to and from other worldwide regions will both
show a two per cent increase in August, offering some better news, but the
biggest growth in long-haul traffic is seen in the Middle East – driven largely
by the United Arab Emirates and Dubai in particular.
This month will see flight operations to and from the Middle East grow by
seven per cent to 64,252, while seat capacity will increase by eight per cent
to reach 14,219,564 – nearly 4,000 more flights and more than a million more
seats offered than in August 2011. Traffic within the Middle East region is
also expected to grow by four per cent (flights) and three per cent (seats).
The Middle East region’s key hubs are all experiencing strong year-on-year
growth in August, with Abu Dhabi seeing seats increasing by 248,896 (up 17%),
Doha by 244,470 (11%) and Bahrain by 114,560 (11%). By far the strongest
performer in the region however is Dubai, with 782,544 additional seats and
2,694 additional flight operations compared with August 2011.
"Strategically, the Middle East is growing in importance all the time,
particularly in terms of its links with Western Europe," said Rob Shaw,
Director Analytics.
"While capacity reductions are continuing on several key routes between
Western Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, more than 400,000 extra seats are
now offered between Western Europe and the Middle East. Of these, more than 70
per cent are on services to and from Dubai and Abu Dhabi, largely reflecting
the continued expansion plans of the premier Gulf-based airlines."
Global flights up by 1% and seats by 3%
Dubai, with its 12 per cent increase in flight operations and 14 per cent
increase in seat capacity, is also showing the fastest growth among the major
global air hubs.
Seat capacity at eight of the world’s top 10 airports will grow this
month. Beijing’s year-on-year increase of eight per cent brings it ever closer
to Atlanta as the world’s largest hub in terms of seats offered, while Tokyo’s
offering increased by nearly 375,000 seats, up five per cent on August 2011,
securing its status as the world’s fourth-largest hub after London-Heathrow.
Worldwide, airlines have increased flights by 16,948 and seats by
9,608,208, taking the total scheduled flight operations for August 2012 to
2,789,437 and the total of seats offered to 361,193,356. This represents growth
of one per cent in flights but three per cent in seats, which is explained by
the increased use of larger aircraft. Average aircraft seat capacity is 129
this month compared with 127 in August 2011.
For the year to date, scheduled flights show a growth of two per cent and
seat capacity an increase of three per cent compared with the January-August
period last year.
A detailed review of OAG FACTS
(http://www.oagaviation.com/OAG-FACTS/2012/August-Executive-Summary) for
August 2012 – including information, commentary and charts about specific
airports, routes, countries and regions worldwide – is available to download
now at http://www.oagaviation.com/OAG-FACTS/2012/August-Executive-Summary.
OAG FACTS is updated on a monthly basis and provides a visual snapshot of
airline activity around the world, using interactive graphs to display 10-year
performance trends, sourced from OAG’s consolidated database of global airline
schedules.
Notes to Editors:
OAG (http://www.oag.com), a UBM Aviation (http://www.ubmaviation.com)
brand, is the trusted source for aviation information and analytical services.
OAG’s leading aviation databases are unrivalled in their scale, accuracy and
comprehensiveness and are integral to the world’s aviation industry operations.
For more information, visit: http://www.oag.com.
SOURCE: OAG
CONTACT: Sarah Dixon
UBM Aviation
Product Marketing Director
+44-(0)-1582-600-111
pressoffice@ubmaviation.com; or
Marc Cornelius,
80:20 Communications
+44-(0)-1483-447380
mcornelius@8020comms.com
