The figures are revealed in the latest OAG Quarterly Airline Traffic Statistics, a regular snapshot of airline activity around the world. Flight information and data solutions company OAG, collates data from more than 1000 scheduled airlines, on a daily basis, which gives an accurate overview of anticipated travel demand. Aircraft fleet data from OAG's sister company BACK Aviation Solutions reveals there are 38,234 planes operating worldwide compared to 36,803 the same time last year, an increase of almost 4%. North America accounts for nearly one third with 13,800 aircraft, followed by Europe with 10,390. The regions showing the largest year on year increases are Asia Pacific (6.6%) and Africa (6.2%).
John Weber, managing director Aviation Services at OAG, commented: "It is apparent from our statistics that there is continued and growing consumer demand for air travel. While airlines worldwide are responding to this demand by increasing their capacity, they are also committed to making significant investment in new, more efficient aircraft." Globally, there are more than 6,100 aircraft on order this month compared to this time last year, a rise of 30%. Of these, Asia Pacific accounts for 2,035 orders. When compared with the number of aircraft on order a year ago, Europe is showing the largest percentage increase at 43% (488 more aircraft on order), followed by Asia Pacific with 34%, representing 516 more aircraft. North America currently has 287 additional new aircraft on order than in July 2006, an increase of 19%. Although the numbers are relatively small, Africa and Central/South America are both showing a 29% increase in the number of aircraft on order, respectively 28 and 75 additional new orders since this time last year.
Route Growth
Most major routes are showing growth of between 1% and 3%. However, even before the full impact of Open Skies, transatlantic frequency and capacity for July 2007 have both risen by 10%, or 2,700 more flights and 700,000 more seats. The number of flights between Western Europe and Africa continues to show above-average growth at 11%, representing 2,100 more flights between these two continents and over 322,000 more seats available. Activity within Latin America is picking up again, with the region showing a 3% growth of more than 4,600 additional flights this month over July 06, and a 5% increase in capacity representing an additional 880,000 seats.
The Europe and Asia markets are fast approaching the same capacity levels as the US: For July 07 the volumes are 74m in Europe and 79m in Asia Pacific compared with 87m in the US. Despite this, Europe and Asia both are still some way behind in the number of flights.
