Scheduled global airline capacity this week is up 2 per cent
compared to last week, the first week-over-week increase in more than two
months, according to data from OAG.
"Whisper it quietly, but we may have reached the
bottom," OAG analyst John Grant wrote. "With some countries beginning
to ease lockdown restrictions, a few airlines are cautiously peering out from
the carnage and testing market demand with some capacity being added back – in some
cases, actually, quite a lot of capacity!"
Regions seeing capacity increases include Northeast Asia,
where Chinese carriers are adding capacity ahead of a holiday this week, and
Western Europe, where low-cost carrier Wizz Air plans to restart some flights
this week. Additionally, Turkish Airlines plans to restart some domestic
service on Friday.
Grant noted that this week "may represent a turning
point for airline capacity as a number of pioneering airlines begin to
cautiously add services back and hold their breaths, waiting to see how demand
responds." He added that OAG is "receiving record levels of schedule
changes from airlines around the world wrestling with possible operational
dates, skeleton networks and fleet adjustments as they plan for the inevitable
and much awaited recovery."
Even so, total capacity this week is 29.2 million seats,
compared with 110 million seats this time last year, according to OAG. More
than 160 airlines that were operating ten weeks ago currently have no service
scheduled, and an additional 91 – including Lufthansa, KLM, Qantas and Iberia –
are operating at less than 10 per cent of their normal capacity levels, the
report indicated.
Domestic flights currently make up 85 per cent of total
global capacity, though OAG noted the international capacity share has inched
up this week thanks to some growth within Western Europe as well as Hong Kong
and South Korea.