Airlines cut back on North Atlantic routes

[GlasgowMan]

Airlines cut back on North Atlantic routes
16 November 2009

The decline in flights scheduled for key transatlantic routes between Europe and North America has been highlighted in a new report.

Airlines have scheduled an eight per cent drop in capacity on the lucrative North Atlantic for this month against November last year, representing 434,467 fewer seats.

Frequencies are down by 10%, representing 2,144 fewer transatlantic flights for the month.

The figures from aviation data company OAG shows that airlines have increased total global capacity by three per cent year on year to 285.4 million seats.

Global frequencies are up by one per cent compared to November 2008, with a total of 2.3 million flights for November 2009, despite an average North American frequency decline of 2%.

Frequencies and capacity in the low cost sector worldwide are both up by eight per cent compared to a year ago, accounting for 424,458 flights (18%) and 62.6 million seats (22%).

OAG Market Intelligence vice president David Beckerman said:“We continue to see growth in global capacity, even with major increases and decreases in hub frequency and capacity compared to a year ago, which would tend to indicate a shift in how travellers are being routed around the globe.”

Analysis of all hubs reveals that frequency and capacity to and from certain hubs reflects positive growth of more than 30%, with some showing reduced traffic and a negative growth of more than 20%.

Leading the growth is Rio de Janeiro with a 39% increase in flight activity and 49% increase in seat capacity.

Meanwhile, Kiev shows a large reduction in flights (30% less) and in seats (28% less).

Within Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East there have been a strong increase in frequencies.