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US aviation capacity at lowest for a decade
August 9, 2012

North American domestic scheduled air capacity is at its lowest for a decade while global services continue to grow, particularly in the Middle East, latest official data has shown.

The OAG FACTS (Frequency and Capacity Trend Statistics) for August has revealed there will be 21,401 fewer flights within North America compared to the same month in 2011.

However, while consolidation and capacity cutting is taking place in the US, the biggest growth in the sector is being seen in the Middle East, particularly in Dubai.

The OAG data shows there will be a million more seats and 4,000 more flights offered to and from the region in August this year compared to the same month in 2011.

Rob Shaw, OAG’s director of analytics, said: “Against the backdrop of a slowing economy the North American region is experiencing general consolidation of its internal scheduled air services.

“This is partly the natural consequence of the well-publicised airline mergers of recent years, but it also reflects the strategy of individual carriers in a tough trading environment: reducing capacity to maintain fares at a profitable level.”

Only three of North America’s top 10 hubs (San Francisco, 7%, Charlotte, 5% and Toronto, 4%) will show significant growth in seat capacity this month, while capacity at Chicago O’Hare will drop by three per cent.

International capacity from the US will increase 2% but this remains some distance behind growth in the Middle East.

There flight operations will grow by 7% and seat capacity by 8% to 64,252 and 14.2 million respectively.

The Middle East region’s key hubs are all experiencing strong year-on-year growth, with Abu Dhabi seeing seats increasing by 248,896 (up 17%), Doha by 244,470 (11%) and Bahrain by 114,560 (11%). But the strongest performer in the region is Dubai, with 782,544 additional seats and 2,694 additional flight operations compared with August 2011.

Source :- http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/