Airlines Plan for Third Successive Summer of Growing Travel Demand
12 July 2006
- Global aviation activity grows again
- 'Powerhouse' India – flights up 49 per cent
- Middle East heads regional growth charts
- Low-cost carriers take more market share
July 2006: More than 290 million seats go on sale this month as the world’s airlines operate nearly 2.5 million domestic and international flights – the highest July figure since the turn of the 21st century, and the third successive annual increase.
Although the 2,471,633 flights timetabled represent an increase of only one per cent on July 2005, airlines are anticipating significant regional increases in demand for travel. The number of flights to and from the Middle East, for example, is 16 per cent higher than in July last year.
Airlines plan to operate 11 per cent more flights to and from the Asia-Pacific region, ten per cent more to and from Africa, and nine per cent more to and from Europe. The number of flights to and from the USA and Canada, and to and from Central and South America, has increased in line with the global average.
The figures are revealed in OAG’s latest Quarterly Airline Traffic Statistics, a regular snapshot of airline activity around the world. OAG collates data from more than 1,000 scheduled airlines, on a daily basis, to give an overview of anticipated travel demand.
In national terms, the most significant figure is a massive 49 per cent increase in the number of domestic flights planned within India, coupled with a 19 per cent increase in flights to and from the country.
“Although the actual number of Indian domestic flights is still comparatively small – only slightly higher than Mexico’s domestic operation, for example – the growth rate is quite remarkable,” says Duncan Alexander, Managing Director OAG Business Development..
“Of the two major emerging powers, China has been dominating the headlines for some time, but India is catching up fast. With their vast populations, burgeoning economies and rapidly-increasing disposable incomes, these two nations look set to become global aviation powerhouses.”
India also leads the way in terms of low-cost airline growth – the number of domestic budget flights scheduled is five times higher this July than last, while the number of low-cost flights to and from the country has risen more than ten-fold.
Although growth rates are slower in more mature markets where the low-cost model is well-established, the July 2006 number of low-cost flights worldwide is still 13 per cent higher than a year ago.
OAG calculates that low-cost operations now represent 13 per cent of global scheduled civil aviation activity, against 12 per cent in July last year and only seven per cent five years ago.
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About OAG
OAG is a global travel and transport information company.
We have three core activities:
- managing and distributing information within the passenger and cargo aviation sectors
- providing travel information to business travellers
- providing advertising and promotion opportunities for the aviation and travel communities.
Our business is underpinned by our data management expertise. We hold a breadth of travel related content and are best known for our airline schedules database. This holds future and historical flight details for 1,000 airlines and more than 3,500 airports. Every ten seconds a flight is updated on the OAG system. Over the coming year we are tracking around 28 million departures.
Using these vast databases, we provide a broad range of multi-lingual products for business and consumer customers, available in virtually any way the customer wants it: Internet, PDA, mobile, digital and print.
We are a private company with 400 employees based in 9 offices in Europe, the Americas and Asia.
More information about our company, our products and our services is available on our web sites www.oag.com, www.oagdata.com and www.oagcargo.com.