Global airline capacity for November 2009 shows positive growth compared to November 2008, reports OAG, the world’s leading aviation data business with its monthly report on trends in the supply of airline flights and seats. The world’s airlines have 285.4 million seats available this month, a rise of 3% over November 2008 levels. Global frequencies are up 1% compared to November 2008, with a total of 2.3 million flights for November 2009, despite an average North American frequency decline of 2%.

David Beckerman, vice president OAG Market Intelligence, 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 travelers are being routed around the globe.”

Worldwide, frequencies and capacity in the low cost sector are both up by 8%, compared to a year ago, accounting for 424,458 flights (18%) and 62.6 million seats (22%).

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 (SDU) with a 39% increase in flight activity and 49% increase in seat capacity. Kiev on the other hand, shows a large reduction in flights (30% less) and in seats (28% less).

The transatlantic market between North America and Western Europe shows an 8% decrease in capacity year on year, representing 434,467 fewer seats. Frequencies are down 10%, representing 2,144 fewer transatlantic flights for the month. Within Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East there have been a strong increase in frequencies.

The month-by-month trend since the start of the economic downturn can be seen in chart format below, or click here. 

The figures are revealed in the November 2009 edition of OAG FACTS (Frequency & Capacity Trend Statistics), the dynamic monthly market intelligence tool providing the latest data on current passenger airline activity around the world.

OAG FACTS uses interactive graphs to display a visual trend of the performance of a specific airport, route, country or region from 2001 onwards, sourced from OAG’s consolidated database of global airline schedules. OAG, based in London, Chicago and Singapore, collects and distributes the most accurate and complete global aviation intelligence.