Global airline capacity bounces back this week with airlines scheduling 95.2m seats. Having seen airline capacity reaches above 90m seats last week, which felt like a positive step forward, this week’s total capacity represents a definite leap.
Only one country’s market can have such an impact in just one week and that is China, where the re-opening of Shanghai on 1 June has triggered a big increase in capacity, with totals for North-East Asia increasing week on week by a quarter or 3.4m seats.
Whilst the USA remains in the top spot as the largest country market for scheduled airline capacity, China has made significant inroads into the gap in the last week. Although things are not yet back to normal, capacity is returning, with the week-on-week comparison growing from -44.2% behind 2019 last week, to just 21.8% behind this week. Capacity in China has increased by more than a third (37.8%) compared to last week, reminding us that there are few country markets capable of switching capacity in this way.
It’s no surprise that China’s biggest airlines are rising the Top 20 airline ranking this month. Air China has also returned after being outside the Top 20 for some time, displacing JetBlue.