Aviation Growth Hits All-Time High

Aviation Growth Hits All-Time High

May 15, 2007

     -- World's airlines offer 114,000 more flights and
17.7 million more 
        seats year on year
     -- 12 million more low cost seats
     -- Low cost sector now accounts for 16% of all flights
worldwide and 
        1 in 5 of all airline seats
     -- Significant rises in transatlantic flights

    BEIJING, May 15 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The global
airline industry shows no sign of reducing its activities;
with a 5% increase in the number of flights scheduled for
May 2007 compared with the same month last year. According
to the latest statistics from OAG, the world's authority on
flight information, this represents an additional 113,827
flights and an astonishing 17.7 million extra seats
available to travellers. 

    A total of 2.51 million flights are timetabled this
month, topping the previous industry high of 2.49 million
reported for August 2006.  Within this global figure of all
scheduled passenger flight operations, the low cost sector
shows a 22% increase of over 70,000 more flights year on
year and a 26% rise in the number of seats available,
representing an extra 12 million low cost seats.
    
    Duncan Alexander, Managing Director at OAG, commented:
"From an industry perspective this healthy growth
bodes very well for the future. We are witnessing a step
change in the way airlines are differentiating their
product. On the one hand we have seen the low cost sector
grow from 6% of all flights in 2001 to 16% today--- this is
1 in 5 of all airline seats. On the other hand, network
carriers are investing on the high-yield end of the market
and upgrading their premium products. This is great news
from a traveller's viewpoint, with much more competition
and choice."

    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
overview of anticipated travel demand.

    Regional Growth

    Regionally, this month there are over 29,000 more
flights within Europe offering 5.5 million more seats, an
increase of 5% and 8% respectively over May 2006.
Asia/Pacific continues to show strong growth within the
region, with 38,000 more flights and 6.2 million more
seats, increases of 8% and 9% respectively. North America,
while showing a relatively modest growth in percentage
terms for flights and seats at 3% for both, represents an
additional 2.5 million additional seats on 26,000 more
domestic flights.

    Growth is especially strong within the Middle East
region and for international flights to and from Africa.
OAG statistics for this month show there is an increase of
13% in the number of intra-regional flights within the
Middle East, representing 4,000 flights and 1/2 million
seats. International flight operations to and from Africa
rose by 14%, or 3,300 flights, offering 13% more capacity,
or 600,000 more seats.

    Looking specifically at the low cost sector, all
regions are showing steady growth year on year. Low cost
airlines have timetabled 19,000 more flights (3.5 million
more seats) within Asia Pacific; 17,500 more flights (2
million more seats) within North America; and 25,700 more
flights (4.9 million more seats) within Europe.

    Route Growth

    With the imminent start of Open Skies across the
Atlantic, it is interesting to note that transatlantic
traffic for May 2007 shows one of the highest increases of
all the major routes: up by 6%, or 1,400 more flights a
month involving over 420,000 more seats.

    In sheer size, the most noteworthy route showing a year
on year increase is for flights between Western Europe and
Africa. This month there are over 2,200 more flights
scheduled between these two continents, up 13%, and over
360,000 more seats available. 

    Below is a chart showing a 7-year growth trend for
selected regions in terms of number of flight schedules:



    Key Regions              May-01        May-02       
May-03        May-04    
                                                           
             
    Worldwide             2,318,609     2,168,288    
2,099,743     2,243,013 
    To/From Africa           17,664        17,415       
17,908        20,232                                       
     
    Within Africa            47,406        46,789       
46,294        46,693 
    To/From Asia/Pacific     32,099        30,453       
31,129        37,666                                       
       
    Within Asia/Pacific     357,993       359,409      
351,844       410,887 
    To/From Central &               
     South America           49,698        45,966       
46,590        52,307                                       
            
    Within  Central &              
     South America          200,598       194,532      
172,928       171,949                                      
         
    To/From Europe           68,660        63,228       
62,218        72,669 
    Within Europe           528,043       495,186      
499,557       522,448 
    To/From Middle East      20,708        18,862       
20,145        24,343 
    Within Middle East       24,677        23,703       
23,108        25,435 
    To/From North America    79,357        70,605       
67,710        78,365 
    Within North America  1,025,688       925,255      
883,162       922,810 
    America                                                
              


    Key Regions              May-05        May-06       
May-07        Growth    
                                                           
        07 vs. 06  
    Worldwide             2,367,951     2,399,815    
2,513,642            5%
    To/From Africa           22,491        24,446       
27,759           14%
    Within Africa            51,844        49,647       
51,695            4%
    To/From Asia/Pacific     40,189        45,151       
48,079            6%
    Within Asia/Pacific     445,483       479,550      
517,685            8%
    To/From Central &                
     South America           54,577        55,336       
55,437            0%                                       
      
    Within Central &  
     South America          172,144       179,438      
185,711            3%                                      
            
    To/From Europe           78,230        84,963       
90,730            7%
    Within Europe           557,321       582,536      
611,746            5%
    To/From Middle East      27,029        31,247       
33,720            8%                                       
    
    Within Middle East       27,053        31,282       
35,350           13%
    To/From North America    82,622        84,719       
86,573            2%
    Within North America    961,537       914,431      
940,306            3%



    Other noteworthy statistics for May 2007 vs May 2006:

    All passenger flight operations:
     -- To/From UK up by more than 8,000 flights (7%) and
1.9m seats (10%)
     -- Domestic China up by 22.9k flights (18%) and 3.2m
seats (18%)
     -- To/From China up by 5.6k flights (17%) and 1m seats
(12%)
     -- Indonesia domestic up by 1,700 flights (6%) and
213k seats (6%) 
     -- Emerging market of Vietnam: flights to/from up by
839 flights (19%) 
        and 125k seats (14%)
     -- To/From Russia up by 2,500 flights (16%) and 353k
seats (16%) 
     -- Healthy growth for new EU states, including:
     -- To/From Romania up by 800 more flights (14%) and
98k seats (16%)
     -- To/From Bulgaria up by 300 more flights (10%) and
44k seats (12%)

    Specific to the Low Cost sector:
     -- To/From UK up by 5,100 flights (14%) and 1.1m more
seats (17%)
     -- To/From Spain up by 13.3k more flights (68%) and
2.5m more seats (77%) 
     -- To/From Germany up by 10,600 flights (52%) and 2m
seats (64%)
     -- 62% growth in India domestic (7.2k more flights)
and 1.6m more seats 
        (151%)
     -- Within Brazil up 40% flights and 44% seats (4.9k
flights, 800k seats)
     -- Within Malaysia up 40% flights (1,200 flights) and
59% seats (264k)
     -- To/From Morocco increase of 171% flights (932 more
flights) and 172% 
        seats (159k)

    Routes/Hubs
     -- Contributing to the transatlantic growth: New York
JFK to/from 
        W Europe has 300 more flights (up 7%) and 70k more
seats (up 6%) a 
        month
     -- Between Asia Pacific & Western Europe there is
steady 3% growth in 
        flights and seats (347 flights & 98k seats)
     -- Specifically from Hong Kong to/from Western Europe,
increase of 172 
        flights (15%) & 59k seats (16%)
     -- Transpacific growth is running at 2% year on year,
with 167 more 
        flights and 3% more seats (76k)
     -- Between Beijing and N America there are 83 more
flights (16%) and 15k 
        more seats (10%)
     -- Between Shanghai and N America there are 59 flights
(17%) and 21.8k 
        more seats (23%)
     -- Contributing to the growth between Europe and
Africa, London Heathrow 
        has an additional 122 flights (6%) and 31k seats
(6%)
     -- Between Cairo and Europe there are 160 more flights
(11%) and 20.6k 
        seats (7%)

    Notes to Editors:

    Analysis on specific countries and key routes and hubs
worldwide is available from OAG on request.

    About OAG

    OAG is a global flight information and data solutions
company for the passenger aviation, air cargo logistics and
business travel markets. It brings together buyers and
sellers of air travel and transport through the management
and distribution of airline product information; the supply
of corporate travel planning tools; and the promotion of
travel and transport products.

    OAG's business is underpinned by its data management
expertise. It holds a breadth of travel related content and
is best known for its airline schedules database. This holds
future and historical flight details for 1,000 airlines and
more than 3,500 airports.  Every ten seconds a flight is
updated on the OAG system. Over the coming year it will
track around 28 million departures.

    More information about the company, its products and
its services is available on the OAG web sites
http://www.oag.com , http://www.oagdata.com and
http://www.oagcargo.com .

    OAG is part of Commonwealth Business Media
(http://www.cbizmedia.com ), a wholly owned subsidiary of
United Business Media plc
(http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com ).  


    For further information about OAG (
http://www.oag.com), please contact:  

    Christopher Pickard at DBA   
    Tel:   [phone]          
    Email: [e-mail]