Global aviation market briefing

Global capacity has increased by 4.5m seats compared with November 2025, a rise of 0.9%, but regional trends remain mixed. In a repeat of last month's trend, North East Asia recorded the largest increase by volume, up 2.7m seats, followed by North America, which added 2.5m seats. Central/Western Africa posted the strongest growth rate, with capacity up 14.8% year on year, followed by Central Asia, where capacity rose by 11.4%. Meanwhile, capacity in the Middle East remains below last year's level, down 3.1m seats, or 13.2%, amid continuing instability in the region. Five other regions also recorded lower capacity than last year: Southern Africa (-37,000 seats), Central America (-117,000 seats), Southwest Pacific (-252,000 seats), Western Europe (-287,000 seats) and South Asia (-364,000 seats)

Global capacity is up 0.9% in November 2026, with growth led by North East Asia (+2.7m seats) and North America (+2.5m seats). Six regions are contracting year on year: the Middle East (−13.2%), Southwest Pacific (−2.1%), South Asia (−1.4%), Southern Africa (−1.2%), Central America (−0.9%) and Western Europe (−0.3%). The fastest-growing region by rate is Central/Western Africa, up 14.8% to 3.5 million seats, followed by Central Asia (+11.4%) and North Africa (+8.0%).

Alaska Airlines continues to record strong frequency growth this year, with flights up 20.9% year on year following the recent integration of Hawaiian Airlines. All the other North American carriers in the Top 20 are also up, with growth ranging from 1.4% at Delta Air Lines to 5.6% at United Airlines. The three South American airlines in the Top 20 all show robust growth this month: LATAM Airlines Group (+7.2%), Azul Airlines (+6.3%) and Avianca (+3.9%). Among the European airlines in the Top 20, only easyJet is growing, up 0.2% compared with last November. The remaining three European airlines recorded decreases this month: Ryanair (-0.5%), Turkish Airlines (-7.9%) and Deutsche Lufthansa AG (-15.9%). Among the Asian airlines in the Top 20, China Eastern recorded the strongest growth, up 2.4%, while Japan's All Nippon Airways recorded the largest decline, with frequencies down 6.6% compared with November 2025.

Emirates remains the largest carrier by international available seat kilometres (ASKs), at 30.4 billion - 10 billion ahead of second-placed United Airlines. However, Emirates and Qatar Airways continue to record lower year on year in international ASKs amid the situation in the Middle East, down 4.4% and 4.8%, respectively. Six other airlines in the Top 20 also recorded year-on-year reductions in international ASKs. LATAM Airlines Group recorded the fastest growth in the Top 20, up 13.9%, followed by Etihad Airways at 12.0% and Air China, one of the Chinese majors, at 11.5%.

The Mexico - USA market is the largest international country pair this month, with 4.1m seats. Spain - United Kingdom ranks second after holding the number one position last month. Continuing a trend seen in recent months, the two fastest-growing markets involve the Republic of Korea: China – Republic of Korea is up 27.4%, while Japan - Republic of Korea is up 19.0%. China - Japan recorded the sharpest rate of decline this month, down 40.3%, equivalent to 780,000 fewer seats than in November 2025 due to the ongoing diplomatic row between the two countries that began in mid-November 2025.

The USA and China, the two largest global domestic markets, together account for 69% of total capacity across the top 10 domestic markets. Both are showing strong growth this month: the US domestic market is up by 2.24m seats compared with last year, while China is adding 1.85m seats. Spain is the fastest-growing domestic market in the top 10 this month, up 6.4% year on year, driven by Wizz Air's entry into the Spanish domestic market this winter. Australia recorded the largest decline, down 4.4% compared with November 2025. Four other domestic markets recorded year-on-year declines: Japan (-0.2%), Turkiye (-0.8%), Mexico (-1.2%) and India (-3.3%)