Airlines cut 11.1 million seats in capacity over the past week, including a cut in U.S. capacity of nearly a third over that period, according to OAG analysis.
With the cuts last week, largely in Europe and North America, global capacity now stands a little higher than a third of what originally had been scheduled, according to OAG analyst John Grant. In North America, a 32.3 percent decrease in capacity week over week was enough bump it from being the world's largest airline market, falling below Northeast Asia. Capacity in Western Europe was down 35.5 percent week over week.
The U.S. Big Three all have had major capacity cuts over the past week: United Airlines was down 40.8 percent week over week, and Delta Air Lines and American Airlines each were down 38.7 percent. Grant said he expected to see this week cuts from Southwest Airlines—which, with the cuts at other U.S. carriers, currently stands as the airline with the largest capacity in the world—and further cuts from other U.S. carriers, which could remove up to five million more seats from North America airline capacity.
"If there is any light at the end of what looks like a very long tunnel, next week's data may begin to see the weekly capacity reductions bottom out with those hopefully final capacity cuts in North America working their way through the systems," according to Grant. "However, with many airlines already having filed their changes through to the end of May, it could be that we will have just hit the bottom of a very bumpy road before any real capacity recovery can be seen."
Grant also noted that domestic capacity in China, where recovery has begun, was still down week over week as carriers try to match demand. "Those green shoots of recovery [are] proving difficult to sustain, it seems," he said.