Press Releases 2008
9th October 2008
"ROUTES" ONE YEAR ON: OAG REVEALS THE SUCCESSES IN NEW AIRLINE OPERATIONS
- Port of Spain - Tobago is World's Busiest New Route
- Newark Liberty - Toronto City Centre is World's Busiest New International Route
- Moscow Vnukovo International Airport has more new services than any other airport
Compared with this time last year, 2,092 new routes have been launched or reinstated. A total of 17,463 flights now operate on these new routes every week, with a combined capacity of 1.8 million seats. OAGback Aviation Solutions, part of flight information and data solutions company OAG (Official Airline Guide), has conducted an historical analysis of its renowned schedules database to identify world rankings of all new routes for October 2008, to coincide with the 14th World Route Development Forum ("Routes"), taking place this month, 12 – 14 October, in Kuala Lumpur.
Topping the global chart of new routes with the highest number of operations is the route between Port of Spain and Tobago airports in Trinidad & Tobago with 281 flights per week, all operated by Caribbean Airlines. This route is also at number one when all new services are ranked by capacity, offering 14,838 seats per week.
International Route Operations
Just over half (57%) of the 2,000+ new routes are international. Topping this chart is the new route between Newark Liberty in the USA and Toronto City Centre in Canada, with 84 new flights per week, all operated by Porter Airlines. When ranked by capacity, the new route offering the most seats per week is between Houston George Bush in the U.S. and London Heathrow in the UK. This is the move from London Gatwick to Heathrow for all Houston services, with flights operated by British Airways and Continental Airlines.
Airport & City Rankings
Of the top 10 airports with the most new or reinstated routes compared with a year ago, eight are in Europe. Top of the list is Moscow Vnukovo with 40 of the new or reinstated routes, followed by Brussels Airport with 31 and Rome Fiumicino with 30. Making up the top 10 are Tel Aviv Ben Gurion with 25 new or reinstated routes, Frankfurt and Tehran Imam Khomeini Airports both with 24, Paris Charles de Gaulle with 23, Edinburgh and Zurich Airports both have 22, and Birmingham International in the UK with 21.
When we look at cities with multiple airports, Moscow tops the global rankings by a large margin with 71 of the new or reinstated routes among its three airports, followed by London with 53 new routes among five airports; and Paris with 42 new routes among three airports.
Much of the growth at Khomeini Airport can be attributed to routes moving from Mehrabad Airport; and when their operations are combined they show an 8% decline year on year in the volume of flights to and from Tehran.
Commented David Beckerman, Vice President OAG Analytical Services: "Our analysis reveals that just over 400 fewer routes have been introduced since we ran the same analysis this time last year, undoubtedly reflecting the downward turn in economic and aviation growth over recent months. Despite the current climate airlines and airports are continuing to identify new market opportunities where they can expand their route networks."
Beckerman added, "It is interesting to see that, despite what is currently happening in the domestic US sector, half of the top 10 new routes worldwide originate or terminate in North America. The highest ranking intercontinental route is between Houston George Bush and London Heathrow in joint 9th position overall with 56 flights per week."
Below are five tables showing rankings based on analysis comparing all non-stop passenger operations worldwide for the week of 13-19 October 2008.
- the busiest new routes ranked by weekly schedule frequencies
- the busiest new routes ranked by weekly seat capacity
- the busiest new international routes ranked by weekly schedule frequencies
- the busiest new international routes ranked by weekly seat capacity
- the top 10 airports ranked by number of new or reinstated routes at that airport
| BUSIEST NEW ROUTES BY FREQUENCY | ||||
| Route | Region | Operating Airlines | Weekly Flights | |
| 1 | Port of Spain – Tobago, Trinidad & Tobago | Latin America | Caribbean Airlines | 281 |
| 2 | Newark Liberty, USA – Toronto city centre, Canada | North America | Porter Airlines | 84 |
| 3 | Dallas fort worth/love field – Chicago O'Hare, USA | North America | American Airlines | 78 |
| 4= | Medellin Enrique Olaya Herrerra – Ibague, Colombia | Latin America | Aires | 70 |
| 4= | Oak Harbor – Seattle/Tacoma, USA | North America | Kenmore Air | 70 |
| 6 | Lethbridge - CALGARY, Canada | North America | Air Canada | 66 |
| 7 | Port Angeles – Seattle/Tacoma, USA | North America | Kenmore Air | 63 |
| 8 | Stockholm Bromma – Vaxjo, Sweden | Western Europe | Avitrans Nordic | 60 |
| 9= | Seoul Gimpo Int'l, Republic of Korea – Shanghai Hongqiao, China | North East Asia | Asiana Airlines China Eastern Airlines Korean Air Shanghai Airlines |
56 |
| 9= | Houston George Bush, USA – London Heathrow, UK | North America – Western Europe | British Airways Continental Airlines |
56 |
| 9= | Penang - Kuala Lumpur Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah, Malaysia | South East Asia | Firefly | 56 |
Table 2
| BUSIEST NEW ROUTES BY CAPACITY | ||||
| Route | Region | Operating Airlines | Weekly Seats | |
| 1 | Port of Spain – Tobago, Trinidad & Tobago | Latin America | Caribbean Airlines | 14,838 |
| 2 | Houston George Bush, USA – London Heathrow, UK | North America – Western Europe | British Airways Continental Airlines |
13,874 |
| 3 | Seoul Gimpo Int'l, Republic of Korea – Shanghai Hongqiao, China | North East Asia | Asiana Airlines China Eastern Airlines Korean Air Shanghai Airlines |
11,452 |
| 4 | Dallas/Fort Worth – London Heathrow, uk | North America – Western Europe | American Airlines British Airways |
10,108 |
| 5 | Krasnoyarsk – Moscow Vnukovo, Russian Federation | North East Asia- Central/Eastern Europe | Domodedovo Airlines Krasnoyarsk Airlines |
9,188 |
| 6 | Rome Fiumicino – Verona Brescia, Italy | Western Europe | Airbee Itali Airlines |
8,160 |
| 7 | Belfast – London heathrow, UK | Western Europe | Aer Lingus | 8.004 |
| 8 | Tehran Imam Khomeini, Islamic Republic of Iran – Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey | Middle East – Western Europe |
Iran Air Kish Air Mahan Air Turkish Airlines |
7,920 |
| 9 | Mumbai, India – Hong Kong, Hong Kong (SAR) China | South Asia – North East Asia |
Cathay Pacific Jet Airways India |
7,316 |
| 10 | Hong Kong, Hong Kong (SAR) China – Tokyo Haneda, Japan | North East Asia – North East Asia |
All Nippon Airways Japan Airlines |
6,980 |
Table 3
| BUSIEST NEW INTERNATIONAL ROUTES BY FREQUENCY | ||||
| Route | Regions | Operating Airlines | Weekly Flights | |
| 1 | Newark Liberty, USA – Toronto city centre, Canada |
North America – North America |
Porter Airlines | 84 |
| 2 | Seoul Gimpo Int'l, Republic of Korea – Shanghai Hongqiao, China | North East Asia – North East Asia |
Asiana Airlines China Eastern Airlines Korean Air Shanghai Airlines |
56 |
| 3 | Houston George Bush, USA – London Heathrow, uk |
North America – Western Europe |
British Airways Continental Airlines |
56 |
| 4 | BORDEAUX, France – FRANKFURT, Germany |
Western Europe – Western Europe |
Lufthansa | 42 |
| 5 | DALLAS/FORT WORTH, USA – LONDON HEATHROW, UK |
North America – Western Europe |
American Airlines British Airways |
42 |
| 6 | FLORENCE, Italy – SURICH, Switzerland |
Western Europe – Western Europe |
Swiss | 42 |
| 7 | Panama City Tocumen, San Salvador – PANAMA, El Salvador | Latin America – Latin America |
Copa Airlines TACA International Airlines |
42 |
| 8 | Tehran Imam Khomeini, Islamic Rep. of Iran – Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey |
Middle East – Western Europe |
Iran Air Kish Air Mahan Air Turkish Airlines |
41 |
| 9 | BRISTOL, UK – FRANKFURT, Germany | Western Europe – Western Europe | Lufthansa | 40 |
| 10 | KlagenfurT, Austria – MUNICH, Germany | Western Europe – Western Europe | Lufthansa | 40 |
Table 4
| BUSIEST NEW INTERNATIONAL ROUTES BY CAPACITY | ||||
| Route | Regions | Operating Airlines | Weekly Flights | |
| 1 | Houston George Bush, USA – London Heathrow, UK | North America – Western Europe | British Airways Continental Airlines |
13,874 |
| 2 | Seoul Gimpo Int'l, Republic of Korea – Shanghai Hongqiao, China | North East Asia | Asiana Airlines China Eastern Airlines Korean Air Shanghai Airlines |
11,452 |
| 3 | DALLAS/FORT WORTH, USA – LONDON HEATHROW, UK | North America – Western Europe | American Airlines British Airways |
10,108 |
| 4 | Tehran Imam Khomeini, Islamic Rep.of Iran – Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey | Middle East – Western Europe | Iran Air Kish Air Mahan Air Turkish Airlines |
7,920 |
| 5 | MUMBAI, India – HONG KONG, Hong Kong (SAR) China | South Asia – North East Asia | Cathay Pacific Jet Airways India |
7,316 |
| 6 | hong kong, Hong Kong (SAR) China – Tokyo Haneda, Japan | North East Asia – North East Asia | All Nippon Airways Japan Airlines |
6,980 |
| 7 | Tehran Imam Khomeini, Islamic Rep.of Iran – LONDON HEATHROW,UK | Middle East – Western Europe | BMI British Midland Iran Air |
6,048 |
| 8 | NEWARK LIBERTY, USA – TORONTO CITY CENTRE, Canada | North America – North America | Porter Airlines | 5,880 |
| 9 | Shanghai Pudong, China – Taipei Taiwan Taoyuan, Chinese Taipei | North East Asia – North East Asia | Air China China Airlines China Eastern Airlines Eva Airways Mandarin Airlines UNI Airways |
5,722 |
| 10 | FRANKFURT, Germany – Tehran Imam Khomeini, Islamic Rep. of Iran | Western Europe – Middle East | Iran Air Lufthansa |
5,624 |
Table 5
| TOP 10 AIRPORTS WITH HIGHEST NUMBER OF NEW OR REINSTATED ROUTES | ||||
| Airport | Country / Region | New Routes | ||
| 1 | Moscow Vnukovo International Airport (VKO) | Russian Federation / Central-Eastern Europe | 40 | |
| 2 | Brussels Airport (BRU) | Belgium / Western Europe | 31 | |
| 3 | Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO) | Italy / Western Europe | 30 | |
| 4 | Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport (TLV) | Israel / Middle East | 25 | |
| 5= | Frankfurt International Airport (FRA) | Germany / Western Europe | 24 | |
| 5= | Tehran Imam Khomeini Int'l Airport (IKA) | Islamic Rep.of Iran / Middle East | 24 | |
| 7 | Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) | France / Western Europe | 23 | |
| 8= | Edinburgh Airport (EDI) | UK / Western Europe | 22 | |
| 8= | Zurich Airport (ZRH) | Switzerland / Western Europe | 22 | |
| 10 | Birmingham International Airport (BHX) | UK / Western Europe | 21 | |
Throughout the Routes Forum, OAG will be offering a complimentary analysis service from the OAG Hosted Networking Stand (#N34), with data reports for any airport, route or airline on request.
Alison Pickering, Head of Corporate Communications
apickering@oag.com
Office, UK: +44 (0)1582 695477
Mobile: +44 (0)7901 715894
About OAGback Aviation Solutions
OAGback Aviation Solutions (www.oagaviation.com) is best known for its airline schedules database which feeds the world's global distribution systems (GDS) and travel portals, and drives the internal systems of many airlines, air traffic control systems, aircraft manufacturers, airport planners and government agencies. It provides the industry's most accurate single source for airline information, analytical services and asset valuation support. It combines the strength of OAG's worldwide airline distribution services including schedules distribution, timetables, codeshare services and connections marketing, with BACK's aviation intelligence covering global aircraft fleets, capacity supply, traffic demand, and financial/operating performance. More recently it has acquired the leading MRO (Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul) forecast databases from AeroStrategy.
OAGback Aviation Solutions is a division of OAG (Official Airline Guide, www.oagcorporate.com), a global flight information and data solutions company for the passenger aviation, air cargo logistics and business travel markets. OAG is part of Commonwealth Business Media (www.cbizmedia.com) a wholly owned subsidiary of United Business Media Limited (www.unitedbusinessmedia.com).