Global airline capacity this week rose to 53.8 million
seats, with growth in all ten regional markets except the Southwest Pacific,
according to OAG analysis.
Overall, capacity stands at about 45 per cent of where it
was this time last year, but capacity has grown by 34 per cent since the middle
of June. The amount of capacity removed this week at the last minute – capacity
planned for this week but removed within the past week – was down to about 3
per cent of seats, lower than previous weeks, which indicates "that
airlines are finally getting a closer grip on planned operations as the
recovery continues or equally that many network planners have taken a
well-deserved holiday on their own services in the last few days,"
according to OAG analyst John Grant.
Western Europe this week had the highest week-over-week
growth rate at 16 per cent, OAG indicated. Most regional markets are operating
about 50 per cent or less of their capacity levels compared with January, but
both Northeast Asia and Eastern Europe have grown close to 75 per cent of their
pre-Covid-19 capacity levels.