The importance of efficient, reliable and economical air transport in today’s world cannot be over emphasised as global tourism and business keep expanding. Global statistics clearly underlie the increasingly crucial role of air transportation.
According to the May 3, 2011 edition of PRNewswire the world’s airlines are anticipating increased demand again in May according to the latest statistics from OAG, a UBM Aviation brand. The OAG FACTS (Frequency and Capacity Trend Statistics) report for May reveals a 6% increase in scheduled capacity, an additional 17.9 million seats, compared to the same month in 2010. This means that May growth is ahead of the 5% average monthly capacity increase for the year to date. The number of scheduled frequencies is up 4.2% year on year, or 106,438 more flights, ahead of the 3.9% average monthly increase for 2011.
“The scheduled May services reflect continued expectations for increased global demand, despite tempering in some regions due to economic pressures, political unrest, fuel costs and other influences,” said Peter von Moltke, Chief Executive Officer, UBM Aviation. “While some sectors will continue expansion and the overall outlook for 2011 is optimistic, we see carriers cautiously monitoring the external influences as well as trends in business and leisure travel behaviours.”
China is now the second largest domestic market in the world behind the United States with more than 30 million available seats this month, an increase of 7% over May 2010. China’s domestic capacity has almost trebled since 2002 and represents 9% of the total global air travel market. Brazil is ranked third with 11.1 million domestic seats.
In terms of total growth, the intra Asia/Pacific region remains the clear leader with an increase of over 6.7 million seats for the month. Six of the top ten worldwide airports by capacity growth year on year are in this region, with Delhi, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Singapore, Tokyo Haneda and Kuala Lumpur representing over 3.9 million additional seats and 22% of the total worldwide growth for the month. Delhi tops worldwide growth with a 28% increase in seats and 20% growth in flights.
The Middle East is the fastest growing region in international available seats with an 11% year on year growth in capacity to and from the region. In terms of international flight frequency growth, Asia Pacific remains first.
Atlanta remains the largest global airport based on scheduled capacity, with almost 9 million available seats in May, and is a remarkable 15% ahead of the second largest hub, Beijing. Yet again, Heathrow has swapped with Tokyo Haneda this month for the number three spot.  This repositioning is undoubtedly based on recent events in Japan as carriers around the world are managing capacity in this region on a short term basis.
A snapshot of Europe this month reveals that the intra Europe region growth is second only to Asia / Pacific with a 6% growth over 2010. The strong growth of low cost carriers (LCC) continues in Europe with the share of the intra Europe market now at 37% compared to just 7.6% a decade ago. The top eight airports between Europe and North America, AMS, CDG, FCO, FRA, LGW, LHR, MAD and MXP, now represent 28% of the total capacity between North America and Europe, the lowest it has been over the last decade.
Our country for quite some time has been affected by adequate, efficient and economical international air transportation and of course this has had significant negative impact on our budding tourism sector.
Many members of our large diaspora in North America and Europe who really wish to visit their homeland are daunted by the quality of service and high cost of air fares being offered by the airlines which service the Guyana route. Consequently, while the numbers foreign based Guyanese visiting is high, this number could have been much higher if there were much better quality of service and lower air fares. In addition, there are not many direct flights and this is very discouraging to potentials as the hassle of in transit travel is very discomforting. The absence of a lack of competition among airlines here has led to a virtual monopoly and from all appearances one airline appears to be taking full advantage by imposing extremely high fares and offering a poor quality of service.
However, recently the situation is much more optimistic with the emergence of a new airline- REDJet which is now offering some very low priced air fares.
Chief Executive Officer of the airline, Ian Burns in a recent meeting with President Bharrat Jagdeo alluded to the above situation.
The region has lacked any competition for so long. It is the only region in the world that doesn’t have a low-fare airline … It’s no longer the top ten or fifteen percent of any country can fly, everyone can now fly, and that’s fantastic news for everybody,” Burns said.
The new airline entered the industry with an eye-catching fare offer of US$9.99 one way, tax free and even provided customers with reasonable seating and baggage offers. Burnes quelled any speculation of a possible inflation in future.
“Far from anybody thinking that we are going to put up our prices, our commitment is to keep on trying to drive prices down, so REDJet is about bringing more and more people into the market,” Burns said.
This is very reassuring from Mr. Burns, however, it is now left to be seen whether this airline could deliver on its promise, as we have had some disappointing experiences with some other airlines which set up shop here.