Airline frequency and capacity statistics

Air travel data from the experts

May 2026

Which is the biggest airline in the world? Which country pairs have most capacity this month? How many flights are there per day, worldwide and what are the latest airline statistics? And how many airlines and airports are in operation? Our Airline Frequency and Capacity Statistics answer all these questions and more with key facts and figures about air travel and global capacity, using flight data from OAG's Schedules Analyser; a cutting-edge platform for airline schedule analysis. 

 

Key Points From May's Airline Frequency and Capacity Data:

  • Global capacity growth has slowed further. Total seats in May sit at 520.6m, just 0.2% above last year, a sharp deceleration from 1% growth last month and the pre-war trend of 3.1%, signalling a meaningful softening in the market overall.
  • Asia-Pacific routes are leading international growth. Japan–South Korea is the fastest-growing major country pair at +19.3% year on year, with China–Hong Kong (+13%) and China–South Korea (+12.7%) also posting strong double-digit gains.
  • European summer leisure demand is building strongly. Key leisure country pairs are all up ahead of peak season: Italy–UK +9.2%, Spain–UK +7.9%, Italy–Spain +7.4%, and Greece–UK +6.8%.
  • Airline frequency shifts reflect structural changes. Alaska Airlines leads growth at +17.8% in frequency, while Lufthansa is down 13.6% following the closure of its Cityline subsidiary, and British Airways has reduced frequency by 2.9%.

This month, schedules data for Middle East airlines — including Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad — reflects airlines' plans at the point schedules were filed and is likely to be subject to change.

Scheduled flight counter
14999173

 Flights in the schedule 29th December 2025 - 24th May 2026

Our flight frequency counter shows the number of (one-way) flights in the schedule from Monday 29th December 2025* to the end of the current week. With 14,269,898 flights in total to the end of this week, the average number of commercial flights per day is  102,734.

*The 'year' runs from Monday 29th December 2025 when week one of the schedule starts.

Weekly airline capacity data

How much airline capacity is scheduled this week?

This chart shows the most recent weekly global (domestic + international) , domestic and international airline capacity. The dotted line represents capacity in the airlines' future schedules for the next 11 weeks, helping you monitor changes in worldwide airline capacity.  

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Airline and airport count

 How many airlines are there in the world?

  • In May 2026, there are 725 airlines operating worldwide.
  • There are currently 3,950 airports in operation. 

Top twenty airlines (frequency)
  • Strongest growth in this group comes from Alaska Airlines this month, with an increase in frequency of 17.8% compared to last May.  
  • Other carriers seeing strong growth in frequency include SAS, up 10.1% and United, up 8.2%.   
  • Deutsche Lufthansa has a significant reduction of 13.6% following the decision to close down their subsidiary Cityline, and there are also frequency reductions from China Eastern, down 3.6%, and British Airways, down 2.9%. 

Top twenty international airlines (ASKs) 
  • The impact of the Middle East war continues with Emirates scheduled ASKs for May down by 18.8% (although this was -40% last month).
  • Qatar Airways, however, has seen ASKs fall further this month, down by 34.5% compared to 31% last month.
  • Iberia has the largest year-on-year increase, with ASKs up by 9% compared to last May, and Ryanair are close behind, with an uplift of 8.2% in ASKs. 

Domestic markets

Where is most domestic air capacity this month?

  • India's domestic market continues to recover with capacity growth this month edging up to 5.1% year on year.  
  • Canada is also seeing steady domestic growth, with capacity up by 4.7%.   
  • Turkiye is growing fastest however, with an increase of 10.3% in capacity compared to last May.  

Top twenty country pairs for travel

 

Which two countries visit each other most?

  • Double digit growth is taking place across 4 of the Top 20 largest country pairs this month, with Japan-S Korea leading with an increase of 19.3% ear on year.
  • Two key Chinese markets, to Hong Kong, and S Korea are also seeing strong growth, up by 13% and 12.7% respectively.
  • At the other end of the scale, India-UAE continues to be impacted by capacity reductions in the Middle East region, and is down 21.5% year on year.
  • In the build up to the peak summer season in Europe, some key leisure markets are experiencing strong growth - Spain-UK, up 7.9%; Italy-Spain, up 7.4%; Italy-UK, up 9.2% and Greece -UK, up 6.8%.

Airline capacity by region

 

Which world region has most airline capacity?

  • In May, global capacity will be 520.6m, just 0.2% ahead of last year.  This marks a continued slowing of growth, from 1% last month and the trend pre-war of 3.1%.
  • Capacity is contracting this month in the Middle East, down 24.3% on last May, and also in South East Asia, where there is a reduction of 3.9% year on year, and in the Caribbean, where carriers are reducing capacity by 3.4% as the peak season there ends.  
  • Capacity in the South West Pacific region is also down, by 1.2%.  
  • Strong growth remains in some markets, with capacity in Central/Western Africa up by 15.7% compared to May 2025, and strong growth continues in Central Asia, up 8.1% and Eastern/Central Europe, up 7.3%.  

FAQs about airline frequecy and capacity stats

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