Published seat capacity figures for July on flights within the Asia Pacific region will reach 99,044,360, according to the latest statistics from OAG, a UBM Aviation brand. The OAG FACTS (Frequency and Capacity Trend Statistics) report for July reveals a six per cent rise in capacity year-on-year with an additional 5.5 million seats and an eleven per cent increase in the number of flights operating within the region. For comparison, capacity within the intra Europe and intra North America regions are 82.8 million and 81.8 million seats respectively. Asia Pacific is also outperforming on frequencies and seat capacity to and from the region, with eleven per cent more flights and nine per cent more seats than in July 2010.

Globally, the world’s airlines have scheduled 2.76 million flights this month with a total capacity of 351.4 million seats, representing increases of three and five per cent respectively on July 2010 figures, the same percentage increases as last month. Increases in aircraft size continue to be a key driver of seat capacity growth and the average number of seats per flight is now 127 compared to 125 this time last year.

Domestic capacity in China grew by five per cent year-on-year and maintains its status as the number two domestic market in the world (behind the United States) and some way ahead of Brazil in third. China’s international capacity has seen an even sharper increase with an additional 1.1 million seats compared to July 2010. Delhi continues to be the fastest growing hub in the Asia Pacific region with frequencies up 20 per cent and available seats increasing by 22 per cent with Hanoi one stop below on the global table. Year-on-year Hanoi has seen frequencies increase by 28 per cent and capacity by 21 per cent to 1.33 million seats. A significant proportion of this capacity has come from Qatar Airways’ four times a week Doha to Hanoi service which operates via Bangkok.

“This steady growth, led largely by Asia, is encouraging for global trade and tourism which depends heavily on a buoyant aviation industry,” said Peter von Moltke, Chief Executive Officer, UBM Aviation. “The Northern hemisphere is entering the busy summer holiday period and any nervousness about some Eurozone countries doesn’t appear to be affecting airline expectations of passenger demand. Low cost and traditional carriers alike have scheduled around 5% more European capacity this month.”

Looking at other regions, both to/from Africa and to/from Central and South America saw a year on year decline in frequencies. Both are down one per cent for July. However, to/from Central and South America saw a year-on-year increase in available seat capacity of 1.5 per cent. To/from Africa seat capacity declined fractionally by 0.2 per cent. In capacity terms, the Middle East continues to be the fastest growing region, with a ten per cent year-on-year increase in seats in July. This is closely followed by within Africa with a growth of 8.9 per cent, and then by to/from Asia, which saw a monthly year on year increase of 8.7 per cent.

The share of the market controlled by low-cost carriers continues to develop, according to the latest data. These budget operators now have a worldwide scheduled capacity share of 25 per cent, with an additional 7.5 million seats compared to July 2010. This equates to a year-on-year increase of nine per cent, which is on a par with the growth seen in the first half of 2011. The European market continues to dominate this sector with 31.5 million intra European seats scheduled in July 2011. However, the fastest growing region is intra Africa which grew 24 per cent for July, albeit from a significantly lower base.

A more detailed review of OAG FACTS statistics for July 2011 – including information, commentary and charts about specific airports, routes, countries and regions worldwide – is available here.

OAG FACTS provides a visual snapshot of airline activity around the world, updated monthly. It uses interactive graphs to display 10-year performance trends, sourced from OAG’s consolidated database of global airline schedules.