ME airlines see capacity grow 11% in past year

BUCKING TREND: Middle East has seen growth in services and passengers in past year at a time when global airline capacity is down following a three percent decline in services.

Middle East airlines unperturbed by the economic slowdown registered double-digit growth in capacity and flights for April, a study has revealed.

Aviation data analysts OAG recently revealed that services to and from the region increased 12 percent, with capacity up 11 percent during the same period.

Meanwhile, the number of seats and services in operation has climbed 15 percent year-on-year.

This month, an additional 5,701 flights and 1.2 million seats were available compared to April 2008.

The figures are in sharp contrast to the six percent decline experienced by global airlines during the past 12 months.

Meanwhile, global airline capacity is down nine million seats following a three percent decline in services.

According to OAG, April’s figure is the ninth successive decline for seat loads and flights.

Flights in Europe are down eight percent with 50,854 fewer services than last April, while capacity has dropped seven percent.

North America is down nine percent and eight percent for flights and seat loads respectively, while South America has also seen a decline.

Apart from the Middle East , Africa was the only other region to register seat factor and flights growth for international services during this period.

The region recorded a seven percent and six percent rise respectively.

Flights within the region, however, are down 1.6 percent with virtually no change in capacity.

“The OAG figures for April reveal some sharp contrasts. The Middle East and Africa, and Asia to a lesser degree, are showing growth, while Europe and North America continue to show steep declines,” said David Beckerman, VP for market intelligence at OAG.  

“These contrasts can be seen also on the key long-haul routes, where transatlantic and transpacific services are down significantly compared with this time last year, while services between Western Europe and the Middle East have increased by 16 percent.”

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