The world”s airlines have made a solid start to the New Year, timetabling nearly 2.4m scheduled flights this month ” 100,000 more than in January 2006, and 300,000 more than in January 2002, when the air transport industry was in the grips of the 9/11 aftermath. January 2007”s 4% is more than matched by a 5% increase in actual seating capacity. The figures are revealed in the latest OAG Quarterly Airline Traffic Statistics, a regular snapshot of airline activity around the world. Travel and transport company OAG collates data from more than 1,000 scheduled airlines, on a daily basis, to give an overview of anticipated travel demand.
”While the percentage increases may not sound dramatic, their significance is in their consistency,” says OAG managing director Duncan Alexander. ”This is the fifth consecutive year that we have seen an increase in January capacity.
”The fact that carriers are sufficiently confident to boost capacity yet again suggests that 2007 could be a good year for the industry at large. Barring any serious geo-political events, and assuming a healthy world economy, we would expect to see more of the same during the course of this year.”
OAG breaks down its statistics by geographic region, but in fact the biggest increase came in one particular market sector. The number of low fare flights on offer around the world this month ” more than 342,000, involving nearly 50m seats ” is 15% higher than in January 2006. The most dramatic rise was in the Asia Pacific region where more than 22,000 additional budget flights represent a 67% increase year on year.