The world's biggest airlines cautious with capacity growth in March
The world's airlines are being cautious with their capacity deployment in 2012, the latest figures from Innovata show. Carriers increased their capacity by 3.6% during in March, which is slightly above IATA's latest forecast for full-year capacity growth.
Just 1.3% more flights were scheduled this month, producing seat growth of 3.1%, according to Innovata.
Worldwide capacity: Mar-2011 vs Mar-2012*
| Mar-2011 | Mar-2012 | % chg | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Total Flights per Week | 576,316 | 583,745 | 1.3% |
| Grand Total Seats per Week | 72,325,241 | 74,573,471 | 3.1% |
| Grand Total ASKs per Week | 123,227,940,906 | 127,687,219,006 |
3.6% |
For once it was not the world's LCCs driving the growth, producing the same ASKs as this time last year. Members of the global alliances are leading the charge, especially SkyTeam, whose members' ASKs are rising 15.2% year-on-year.
LCC vs Unaligned vs Alliances capacity and shares (%) of global aviation: Mar-2011 vs Mar-2012*
| Alliance | Mar-11 | Mar-12 | % of Totals | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % Change | Mar-11 | Mar-12 | Variance | ||||
| Oneworld | Flights per Week | 55,634 | 57,065 | 2.6% | 9.7% | 9.8% | 0.1% |
| Seats per Week | 7,793,141 | 7,995,505 | 2.6% | 10.8% | 10.7% | -0.1% | |
| ASKs per Week | 17,378,768,673 | 17,818,365,612 | 2.5% | 14.1% | 14.0% | -0.1% | |
| SkyTeam Alliance | Flights per Week | 81,455 | 91,902 | 12.8% | 14.1% | 15.7% | 1.6% |
| Seats per Week | 10,189,688 | 12,124,823 | 19.0% | 14.1% | 16.3% | 2.2% | |
| ASKs per Week | 19,540,849,958 | 22,508,979,904 | 15.2% | 15.9% | 17.6% | 1.8% | |
| Star Alliance | Flights per Week | 145,415 | 142,988 | -1.7% | 25.2% | 24.5% | -0.7% |
| Seats per Week | 17,472,897 | 17,464,991 | 0.0% | 24.2% | 23.4% | -0.7% | |
| ASKs per Week | 32,070,303,612 | 32,973,579,509 | 2.8% | 26.0% | 25.8% | -0.2% | |
| Low Cost Carriers | Flights per Week | 108,606 | 108,748 | 0.1% | 18.8% | 18.6% | -0.2% |
| Seats per Week | 15,841,783 | 16,035,495 | 1.2% | 21.9% | 21.5% | -0.4% | |
| ASKs per Week | 19,132,181,998 | 19,160,836,073 | 0.1% | 15.5% | 15.0% | -0.5% | |
| Un-Aligned Carriers | Flights per Week | 185,206 | 183,042 | -1.2% | 32.1% | 31.4% | -0.8% |
| Seats per Week | 21,027,732 | 20,952,657 | -0.4% | 29.1% | 28.1% | -1.0% | |
| ASKs per Week | 35,105,836,665 | 35,225,457,907 | 0.3% | 28.5% | 27.6% | -0.9% | |
Delta Air Lines holds onto the top spot, though the United-Continental combination has surged into first place, owing to Delta's deeper cutbacks. Emirates is the third largest carrier (or fourth counting UA-CO as one). Other movers include China Southern Airlines, which is on the verge of joining the global Top 10 with a strong increase in capacity this month. China Eastern Airlines is also back in strong growth mode, as is Qatar Airways.
World's biggest airlines by Seats and ASKs per week: Mar-2011 vs Mar-2012*
| ASKs per Week | %
Change |
Ranking | Variance | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airline | Mar-11 | Mar-12 | Mar-11 | Mar-11 | ||
| Delta Air Lines | 7,450,524,533 | 7,043,712,252 | -5.5% | 1 | 1 | - |
| American Airlines | 5,361,936,579 | 5,259,156,755 | -1.9% | 2 | 2 | - |
| Emirates | 3,799,448,284 | 4,383,541,461 | 15.4% | 4 | 3 | +1 |
| United Airlines | 4,300,936,364 | 4,272,288,988 | -0.7% | 3 | 4 | -1 |
| Continental Airlines | 3,592,939,442 | 3,500,633,317 | -2.6% | 5 | 5 | - |
| Lufthansa | 3,431,936,760 | 3,457,214,917 | 0.7% | 6 | 6 | - |
| Southwest Airlines | 3,360,387,397 | 3,378,919,648 | 0.6% | 7 | 7 | - |
| British Airways | 2,809,178,917 | 3,015,475,077 | 7.3% | 9 | 8 | +1 |
| Air France | 3,007,953,213 | 3,003,105,183 | -0.2% | 8 | 9 | -1 |
| US Airways | 2,728,678,784 | 2,776,126,704 | 1.7% | 10 | 10 | - |
| China Southern Airlines | 2,077,448,574 | 2,462,908,722 | 18.6% | 13 | 11 | +2 |
| Cathay Pacific Airways | 2,221,522,412 | 2,335,502,095 | 5.1% | 11 | 12 | -1 |
| Singapore Airlines | 2,125,988,495 | 2,219,687,055 | 4.4% | 12 | 13 | -1 |
| Air China | 1,928,499,922 | 2,082,498,590 | 8.0% | 15 | 14 | +1 |
| Air Canada | 2,024,154,291 | 2,068,387,922 | 2.2% | 14 | 15 | -1 |
| Qantas Airways | 1,927,049,968 | 1,958,208,557 | 1.6% | 16 | 16 | - |
| China Eastern Airlines | 1,706,879,610 | 1,907,416,447 | 11.7% | 20 | 17 | +3 |
| KLM | 1,833,581,843 | 1,821,411,723 | -0.7% | 17 | 18 | -1 |
| Korean Air Lines | 1,660,863,060 | 1,791,065,938 | 7.8% | 21 | 19 | 2 |
| All Nippon Airways | 1,716,039,838 | 1,721,361,617 | 0.3% | 19 | 20 | -1 |
| Qatar Airways | 1,456,047,017 | 1,660,322,736 | 14.0% | 24 | 21 | +3 |
| Ryanair | 1,807,821,666 | 1,640,128,858 | -9.3% | 18 | 22 | -4 |
| Turkish Airlines | 1,395,056,621 | 1,617,062,755 | 15.9% | 25 | 23 | +2 |
| Thai Airways | 1,589,945,914 | 1,595,019,562 | 0.3% | 22 | 24 | -2 |
| Japan Airlines | 1,521,625,434 | 1,529,155,097 | 0.5% | 23 | 25 | -2 |
| GRAND TOTAL | 66,836,444,938 | 68,500,311,979 | 2.5% |
|
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Ryanair has tumbled four places in the global rankings to 22nd (by ASKs) as it trims capacity. Among the LCC ranks, the biggest gainer is India's Indigo, which is remarkably on the verge of joining the global LCC Top 10 list after launching services less than six years ago (in Aug-2006).
Top 25 LCCs worldwide by capacity (ASKs/week): Mar-2011 vs Mar-2012*
| Airline | ASKs per week | %
Change |
Ranking | Variance | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar-11 | Mar-12 | Mar-11 | Mar-12 | |||
| Southwest Airlines | 3,360,387,397 | 3,378,919,648 | 0.6% | 1 | 1 | - |
| Ryanair | 1,807,821,666 | 1,640,128,858 | -9.3% | 2 | 2 | - |
| JetBlue | 1,146,571,822 | 1,240,467,871 | 8.2% | 3 | 3 | - |
| easyJet | 1,078,529,286 | 1,051,262,370 | -2.5% | 4 | 4 | - |
| Gol | 918,466,028 | 890,600,929 | -3.0% | 5 | 5 | - |
| AirTran Airways | 799,711,921 | 714,409,840 | -10.7% | 6 | 6 | - |
| Westjet | 655,389,099 | 700,688,221 | 6.9% | 7 | 7 | - |
| Jetstar Airways | 631,786,940 | 603,443,852 | -4.5% | 8 | 8 | - |
| AirAsia Bhd | 491,933,202 | 518,205,614 | 5.3% | 9 | 10 | -1 |
| Lion Airlines | 469,106,677 | 537,352,108 | 14.5% | 10 | 9 | +1 |
| Condor | 381,987,715 | 424,133,390 | 11.0% | 11 | 11 | - |
| Frontier Airlines | 357,013,545 | 367,281,893 | 2.9% | 12 | 15 | -3 |
| Norwegian | 354,489,965 | 401,180,571 | 13.2% | 13 | 13 | - |
| Thomsonfly | 349,196,942 | 309,233,506 | -11.4% | 14 | 17 | -3 |
| Spirit Airlines | 300,484,130 | 347,951,321 | 15.8% | 15 | 16 | -1 |
| Virgin America | 290,761,050 | 373,361,478 | 28.4% | 16 | 14 | +2 |
| Indigo | 289,885,277 | 408,287,547 | 40.8% | 17 | 12 | +5 |
| Wizz Air | 248,979,293 | 273,953,350 | 10.0% | 18 | 19 | -1 |
| Cebu Pacific | 230,247,689 | 273,491,192 | 18.8% | 19 | 20 | -1 |
| Allegiant Air | 222,793,158 | 269,120,297 | 20.8% | 20 | 21 | -1 |
| Air Arabia | 222,397,153 | 240,009,408 | 7.9% | 21 | 24 | -3 |
| Volaris | 220,273,224 | 246,499,422 | 11.9% | 22 | 23 | -1 |
| Vueling Airlines | 214,771,914 | 248,945,931 | 15.9% | 23 | 22 | +1 |
| SpiceJet | 212,263,775 | 275,928,329 | 30.0% | 24 | 18 | +6 |
| Thai AirAsia | 177,024,332 | 189,794,187 | 7.2% | 25 | 25 | - |
| GRAND TOTAL | 15,432,273,196 | 15,924,651,134 | 3.2% | |||