Global airline capacity this week grew for the second week in a row, with scheduled weekly seats back above the 30 million mark, up 6 percent week over week, according to analysis by OAG.
The largest growth this week was in South Asia, where capacity is up more than 120 percent week over week with 1.7 million seats added. That increase largely comes from India's domestic market, though there also was some recovery in Pakistan and Bangladesh, OAG reported. Chinese capacity, meanwhile, was down slightly week over week, but the decline was "certainly nothing significant" as it compares with a public holiday last week, according to OAG analyst John Grant.
Global capacity remains 73 percent lower than the same time last year, a deficit of about 83 million seats. Grant noted that week-over-week growth next week likely will be slower but that carriers are planning "significant capacity increases" in June, particularly as lockdowns and quarantine requirements in Europe ease.
"With 213 airlines currently not filing schedules this week compared to [the period prior to the Covid-19 crisis] and some 10,000 airport pairs still not being operated, there is obviously a very long journey ahead of the industry," according to Grant. "But, at least it looks like the tide has turned."