Press Releases 2007
January Flights increase marks five years of aviation growth - Global
29 January 2007
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- Airlines timetable 100,000 extra flights
- 280 million ticket sales target
- Low-cost flights up 15% globally, with Asia accounting for more than half
- Middle East shows strongest growth
January 2007: The world’s airlines have made a solid start to the New Year, timetabling nearly 2.4 million 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 four per cent increase is more than matched by a five per cent increase in airline seating capacity. More than 280 million tickets went on sale this month, against just over 266 million in January last year.
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 1000 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 Duncan Alexander, OAG’s managing director. “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 50 million seats – is 15 per cent higher than in January 2006.
More than half of the world’s new low-cost flights were in Asia Pacific. There were more than 22,000 additional low-fare services within the region during the month, representing a 67 per cent increase year on year.
January saw a 57 per cent increase in the number of low-cost flights to and from Europe this month. In percentage terms, that pales into insignificance beside the 118 per cent rise in low-cost operations to and from Africa, and a 78 per cent increase in budget flights in and out of the Middle East.
When all scheduled flights are taken into account, once again the biggest increases are in the Middle East with a 12 per cent increase in international flights and a 13 per cent increase in intra-regional operations.
The number of flights to and from Africa is ten per cent higher than January 2006, at nearly 27,000, but the growth in intra-African flights, up to 53,000, is only three per cent.
Travellers to the Asia-Pacific region have had more flights to choose from, too. The world’s airlines scheduled nine per cent more flights to and from Asia-Pacific this month, taking the total to more than 46,700, while flights within the region are up seven per cent to more than 493,000.
Airlines have laid on an extra million-plus seats to and from Europe in January (up seven per cent to more than 19 million), and timetabled a six per cent increase, to 60.7 million, in intra-European services.
Flights to and from the US, the world’s most mature aviation market, are five per cent higher at 114,700, while January’s 818,000 US domestic flights constitute a two per cent increase on January 2006.
Conversely, the UK market saw a greater year-on-year increase domestically than in its international services, with the number of flights rising four and one per cent respectively.
International routes showing the greatest increase were between Western Europe and the Middle East with an 11 per cent increase in flights and 15 per cent in seat numbers, and between Western Europe and Africa, which saw a rise of 10 per cent in the number of flights.
Statistical Tables are available here.
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For further information about OAG (www.oag.com) please contact:
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Tel +44 (0)20 7930 8033 Email: chris@dbapr.co.uk
Notes to Editors:
Analysis on specific countries and key routes and hubs worldwide is available from OAG on request.