Over 317.4 million airline seats are to be offered by flight operators this month, the highest ever April figure.
Aviation statistics and analysis firm OAG said the number of airline seats available worldwide this month was up five per cent on the same time last year, representing an extra 13.9 million seats.
Flights are more frequent too, the analysis found, with 80,653 more flights scheduled in April this year compared to April 2010 – representing a three per cent increase.
OAG found that the Middle East is the fastest-growing region when it comes to volumes of seats, with the area seeing an 11 per cent increase year on year in the number of seats available. However, OAG points out that political instability in the region could curb this trend.
The figures also revealed that 6.2 million extra seats will be available on flights to Asia-Pacific destinations this April and there will be an additional 40,203 flights. Flight capacities on Asia-Pacific routes have been growing faster than the global average over the last five years, OAG said.
The only market showing a reduction in flight frequencies was Central and South America, but even then the drop was less than one per cent on last year – an improvement on the previous month.
