Middle East flights and capacity continue growth in September

The Middle East saw both flights and capacity for travel to and from the region experience a second consecutive month of growth, following last month's first positive increase after a year of decline.

The Middle East region continues to enjoy its steady upward trend as flights and capacity for travel to and from the region have risen this month by 13% and 14% respectively - representing an additional 5,380 more flights and 1.3 million more seats than in September 2008 - while the number of flights and seats offered within the region are up by 18% (6,086 more flights) and 20% (1.07 million more seats) respectively.

Air service for September on the key long-haul routes continues to follow a similar pattern to recent months showing continued growth between Western Europe and the Middle East, and between Western Europe and Africa, with upturns in capacity of 13% (370,000 more seats) and 8% (320,000 more seats) respectively compared with September 2008.

This continued growth is part of a global pattern identified by aviation data provider OAG within its latest monthly report on trends in the supply of airline flights and seats. The report shows that global airline capacity for September 2009 is showing positive growth for the second consecutive month of 1.4% compared to September 2008.The world’s airlines have scheduled 296.9 million seats, a rise of 1.4% (4,130,744 more seats) over September 2008 levels.

Above: The month by month trend since the start of the economic downturn can be seen in the chart. Courtesy: OAG

David Beckerman, vice president OAG Market Intelligence, said: “As the summer season winds down, the steady upward trend we have seen since May is continuing. After 11 straight months of capacity cutbacks, these figures indicate a growing confidence within the industry that demand for air travel is starting to pick up.”

Frequencies are marginally down compared to September 2008. The world’s airlines have scheduled a total of 2.4 million flights for September 2009, down by 0.6% (14,321 fewer flights) compared with the same month last year. Last month, the year on year global frequency figure was down by 2% and capacity was up by 0.2%.