The analysis says that international air capacity this week has risen by 513,000 seats to 39.6 million which represents an increase of 1.3 pc on last week
As the year 2023 comes to close, aviation data tracking and analysis company OAG says that it expects the full-year capacity to be 5.5 billion seats this year, a healthy growth of 17.3 pc over the capacity in the year 2022.
OAG says that despite the healthy growth this year, the total annual still represents a fall of 3.7 pc as compared to the pre-pandemic peak registered in 2019.
On the weekly movement, OAG says that domestic air capacity this week has fallen by 253,000 seats this week, to 63.7 million seats, which is 1.7 pc below the same week in 2019. The domestic capacity for the whole year is expected to be 3.4 billion, which will be 0.6 pc more than 2019, indicating that while the domestic aviation has recovered fully from the pandemic shock, the international travel is yet to fully recover.
The analysis says that international air capacity this week has risen by 513,000 seats to 39.6 million which represents an increase of 1.3 pc on last week. However, compared to the 2019 levels, the capacity remains in line with the trend of recent weeks, down by 5.3 pc. It adds that the for the full year, the international capacity is likely to be 2.1 billion, which will be 9.9 pc behind 2019.
Analysing the globe by regions, OAG says that this week, changes in domestic capacity are being driven by reduction in North East Asia, where carriers have trimmed back capacity by 246,000 seats. This is equivalent to a 1.3 pc reduction in capacity, yet the seats are now 3.9 pc above the same week in 2019.
OAG says that the international capacity continues to increase steadily this week mostly in Western Europe where carriers are starting to add back capacity in anticipation of holiday travel and the beginnings of the ski season. Capacity has increased by 1.3 pc this week and international capacity now sits at just 2 pc below the same week in 2019.
OAG says that South East Asia international capacity continues to rise, this week by 2.5 pc, equivalent to 85,000 additional seats. Recovery in this market is now sitting at 19.4 pc below the same week in 2019.
OAG says that Central Asia has risen the highest among all regions globally, with its domestic capacity this week standing 41.5 pc and international capacity 44.8 pc above pre-pandemic levels. Central America is the next in line, with domestic and international capacities standing 10.8 pc and 23.9 pc over 2019 peaks.
South Asia is 3.2 pc and 1.5 pc higher for domestic and international capacities in the week, while North America is up 1.3 pc and 5.9 pc respectively.
