Global Airline Capacity Grows for 9th Consecutive Month
The global growth in scheduled flights continues again in February 2012 with a noticeable increase of 5% in frequency. The number of seats naturally increased similarly albeit slightly higher at 6% reflecting a larger average aircraft size. As with January, the average aircraft size is 126 however it is creeping towards 127 for February 2012 (a 1.1% increase against February 2011).
From a top level perspective, there is a natural churn of airline fleet and the result is more often than not larger capacity aircraft - typically evidenced through the newer next generation' aircraft (both narrow and wide body).