ROUTES AFRICA: African Capacity to Grow in July

Seat availability within the Africa region and on flights to and from other parts of the world will grow by four per cent in July 2011 when compared with the same month last year, based on the latest scheduled data from OAG. According to the OAG Facts June 2011: Executive Summary, released last week, this growth will be supported by further network expansion with new services to destinations within the Continent and into the Gulf region. These include flights from Senegal Airlines from Dakar to Cotonou, Douala and Libreville via Abidjan and direct to Praia as well as EgyptAir’s new links to Baghdad and Erbil from Cairo.

According to the report, North Africa continues hold the majority of the market share of capacity. However, this was the first time that it has seen its market share for July decline in recent years. This can be attributed to unrest in this region of Africa. Eastern and Central/Western Africa both saw slight increases in their market share, climbing to 17 per cent and 19 per cent respectively as a result of this.

OAG highlights that Africa to Paris and Africa to London continue to be the continent’s most significant intercontinental markets. However, both see a year-on-year decline in seat availability for July, with Paris declining two per cent to 694,735, and London four per cent to 601,847.

To view the full report, please click here.

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