Lufthansa outgrowing Emirates again this September. World's leading airlines in growth mode
The world's airlines are scheduling some 4.9% more seats this September than the same month in 2010, translating into a 6.7% increase in ASKs. These are similar to the capacity increases witnessed in the peak summer month of August, suggesting the leading airlines are confident about growth prospects. Delta Air Lines remains the world's biggest carrier this month, despite trimming its ASKs by 2.1% year-on-year. United (-4.3%) and US Airways (-2.2%) are the only other carriers in the Top 25 that are reducing their capacity year-on-year. United-Continental however is the world's biggest combination, maintaining a margin of some 5.5% above Delta in terms of ASKs.
Worldwide capacity: Sep-2010 vs Sep-2011*
| Sep-2010 | Sep-2011 | % Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Total Flights per Week | 584,641 | 603,105 | 3.2% |
| Grand Total Seats per Week | 73,577,680 | 77,191,423 | 4.9% |
| Grand Total ASKs per Week | 124,490,277,366 | 132,865,776,892 | 6.7% |
Top 25 movers
Expansion is again led by Turkish Airlines (+30.8%), although that carrier showed some growing pains in its latest financial report.
Emirates (+7.3%) moved ahead of United Airlines this month, while its hub, Dubai, looks set to become the world's second biggest international airport by seats later this year, leapfrogging Frankfurt, Hong Kong and Paris Charles de Gaulle. Lufthansa however is outpacing its Middle East rival again this month, growing its capacity (ASKs) by 11.1%.
Double-digit expansion by Cathay Pacific and Ryanair moved them up the rankings, at the expense of the slower growing China Southern.
Global Top 25 Airlines by capacity per week (ASK) - Sep-2010 vs Sep-2011*
| World Ranking | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airline | Sep-10 | Sep-11 | % Change | Sep-10 | Sep-11 | Variance |
| Delta Air Lines | 6,334,268,848 | 6,198,750,464 | -2.1% | 1 | 1 | - |
| American Airlines | 4,732,809,204 | 4,809,657,860 | 1.6% | 2 | 2 | - |
| Emirates | 3,698,797,562 | 3,970,493,220 | 7.3% | 4 | 3 | +1 |
| United Airlines | 3,761,349,464 | 3,597,990,567 | -4.3% | 3 | 4 | -1 |
| Lufthansa | 3,172,258,521 | 3,523,657,125 | 11.1% | 5 | 5 | - |
| Southwest Airlines | 3,065,754,312 | 3,180,813,256 | 3.8% | 6 | 6 | - |
| Air France | 2,888,074,514 | 3,039,544,059 | 5.2% | 7 | 7 | - |
| British Airways | 2,872,126,551 | 3,020,495,503 | 5.2% | 8 | 8 | - |
| Continental Airlines | 2,741,084,467 | 2,943,073,869 | 7.4% | 9 | 9 | - |
| Ryanair | 2,195,548,170 | 2,481,604,750 | 13.0% | 12 | 10 | +2 |
| Cathay Pacific | 2,166,190,769 | 2,434,636,859 | 12.4% | 13 | 11 | +2 |
| China Southern Airlines | 2,248,802,290 | 2,370,397,116 | 5.4% | 10 | 12 | -2 |
| Singapore Airlines | 2,033,248,588 | 2,196,041,286 | 8.0% | 14 | 13 | +1 |
| US Airways | 2,230,795,465 | 2,182,131,975 | -2.2% | 11 | 14 | -3 |
| Air China | 1,936,505,945 | 2,153,112,984 | 11.2% | 15 | 15 | - |
| Air Canada | 1,932,073,640 | 1,988,329,317 | 2.9% | 16 | 16 | - |
| Qantas Airways | 1,883,575,001 | 1,941,855,084 | 3.1% | 17 | 17 | - |
| China Eastern Airlines | 1,784,077,530 | 1,934,072,617 | 8.4% | 18 | 18 | - |
| Korean Air Lines | 1,651,587,598 | 1,890,079,792 | 14.4% | 20 | 19 | +1 |
| KLM | 1,733,880,834 | 1,854,449,970 | 7.0% | 19 | 20 | -1 |
| Turkish Airlines | 1,281,858,076 | 1,676,522,457 | 30.8% | n/a | 21 | n/a |
| Thai Airways | 1,495,284,990 | 1,585,536,791 | 6.0% | 22 | 22 | - |
| Qatar Airways | 1,527,938,916 | 1,571,452,351 | 2.8% | 21 | 23 | -2 |
| TAM | 1,395,191,397 | 1,466,255,237 | 5.1% | n/a
|
24 | n/a
|
| easyJet | 1,375,832,973 | 1,399,990,809 | 1.8% | n/a | 25 | n/a
|
| GRAND TOTAL | 62,138,915,626 | 65,410,945,320 | 5.3% | |||
LCCs and SkyTeam growing
The world's low-cost carriers (LCC) and SkyTeam Alliance members have grown their share of global aviation this month relative to the same time last year.
LCCs have increased their share of global aviation (in terms of seats per week) from 22.9% in Sep-2010 to 23.8% in Sep-2011, while SkyTeam's share has risen 1.4 ppts to 15.8%. Star remains the leading alliance, with a 23% share of total seats (down 1.3 ppts year-on-year), while oneworld's share continues to diminish, falling 0.4 ppts to 10.3%.
See related report: Profitable Hainan Airlines 'still single'; Driving international expansion organically
The unaligned carriers command a 27.1% share of global aviation, down 0.6 ppts year-on-year, according to Innovata schedule data.
LCC vs Unaligned vs Alliances capacity and shares (%) of global aviation: Sep-2010 vs Sep-2011*
| % of Totals | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alliance | Sep-10 | Sep-11 | % Change | Sep-10 | Sep-11 | Variance | |
| Oneworld | Flights per Week | 55,402 | 56,546 | 2.1% | 9.5% | 9.4% | -0.1% |
| Seats per Week | 7,882,659 | 7,947,679 | 0.8% | 10.7% | 10.3% | -0.4% | |
| ASKs per Week | 17,398,539,731 | 18,166,187,120 | 4.4% | 14.0% | 13.7% | -0.3% | |
| SkyTeam Alliance | Flights per Week | 83,968 | 93,361 | 11.2% | 14.4% | 15.5% | 1.1% |
| Seats per Week | 10,579,748 | 12,212,902 | 15.4% | 14.4% | 15.8% | 1.4% | |
| ASKs per Week | 19,803,578,474 | 22,698,827,817 | 14.6% | 15.9% | 17.1% | 1.2% | |
| Star Alliance | Flights per Week | 148,833 | 144,749 | -2.7% | 25.5% | 24.0% | -1.5% |
| Seats per Week | 17,909,207 | 17,777,733 | -0.7% | 24.3% | 23.0% | -1.3% | |
| ASKs per Week | 32,398,951,584 | 33,413,662,993 | 3.1% | 26.0% | 25.1% | -0.9% | |
| Low Cost Carriers | Flights per Week | 113,594 | 123,353 | 8.6% | 19.4% | 20.5% | 1.0% |
| Seats per Week | 16,869,022 | 18,370,596 | 8.9% | 22.9% | 23.8% | 0.9% | |
| ASKs per Week | 20,477,445,664 | 22,600,866,375 | 10.4% | 16.4% | 17.0% | 0.6% | |
| Un-Aligned | Flights per Week | 182,844 | 185,096 | 1.2% | 31.3% | 30.7% | -0.6% |
| Seats per Week | 20,337,044 | 20,882,513 | 2.7% | 27.6% | 27.1% | -0.6% | |
| ASKs per Week | 34,411,761,913 | 35,986,232,587 | 4.6% | 27.6% | 27.1% | -0.6% | |
Little change at the top of the LCC rankings
The world's LCCs are growing their seating capacity this month by 8.9% and ASKs by 10.4% year-on-year. Again, there is little change at the top of the world LCC rankings. Mexico's Volaris (+45.6%) has pipped India's Indigo this month to the mantle of the fastest growing LCC in the list. Indigo's ASKs are rising 43.9% in Sep-2011 - the same month as it launches international services.
Virgin America is also growing strongly, while Spirit is one of just two carriers on the list that are shrinking capacity from the same time last year. 12 of the top 25 LCCs are growing capacity at rates above 10% this month.
Southwest remains the world's biggest LCC, followed by Ryanair. easyJet is third, followed by JetBlue and Air Berlin.
NB: CAPA displays LCC market share growth since 2001 by country or region on the LCC tabs of each country or region page. Type a country into the CAPA Profiles box near the top of this page and click the LCC tab. View the Australia example.
Top 25 LCCs worldwide by capacity (ASKs/week): Sep-2010 vs Sep-2011*
| Rankings | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airline | Sep-10 | Sep-11 | % Change | Sep-10 | Sep-11 | Variance |
| Southwest Airlines | 3,065,754,312 | 3,180,813,256 | 3.8% | 1 | 1 | - |
| Ryanair | 2,195,548,170 | 2,481,604,750 | 13.0% | 2 | 2 | - |
| easyJet | 1,375,832,973 | 1,399,990,809 | 1.8% | 3 | 3 | - |
| JetBlue Airways | 1,001,716,217 | 1,085,192,246 | 8.3% | 4 | 4 | - |
| Air Berlin | 902,685,168 | 990,242,375 | 9.7% | 5 | 5 | - |
| Gol | 837,970,615 | 966,776,797 | 15.4% | 6 | 6 | - |
| Thomsonfly | 760,083,660 | 783,869,359 | 3.1% | 7 | 7 | - |
| AirTran Airways | 650,895,647 | 651,835,476 | 0.1% | 8 | 8 | - |
| Jetstar Airways | 580,063,996 | 644,825,253 | 11.2% | 9 | 9 | - |
| Westjet | 567,575,632 | 615,265,136 | 8.4% | 10 | 10 | - |
| Condor | 487,913,368 | 524,697,281 | 7.5% | 12 | 11 | +1 |
| Virgin Australia | 547,162,328 | 515,075,414 | -5.9% | 11 | 12 | -1 |
| Lion Airlines | 436,678,006 | 492,320,299 | 12.7% | 14 | 13 | +1 |
| AirAsia Berhad | 471,326,678 | 491,906,551 | 4.4% | 13 | 14 | -1 |
| Norwegian | 374,204,403 | 425,917,621 | 13.8% | 15 | 15 | - |
| Frontier Airlines | 312,532,876 | 355,233,684 | 13.7% | 16 | 16 | - |
| Wizz Air | 305,731,457 | 347,523,288 | 13.7% | 17 | 17 | - |
| Indigo | 230,266,420 | 331,273,871 | 43.9% | 22 | 18 | +4 |
| Virgin America | 227,453,464 | 309,347,985 | 36.0% | 23 | 19 | +4 |
| Vueling Airlines | 297,317,356 | 302,186,330 | 1.6% | 18 | 20 | -2 |
| Monarch Airlines | 246,327,010 | 301,947,960 | 22.6% | 21 | 21 | - |
| TUIfly | 276,606,142 | 297,051,269 | 7.4% | 19 | 22 | -3 |
| Volaris | 183,661,871 | 267,465,905 | 45.6% | 24 | 23 | +1 |
| SpiceJet | 182,592,380 | 253,450,287 | 38.8% | n/a | 24 | n/a |
| Spirit Airlines | 251,253,087 | 249,814,507 | -0.6% | 20 | 25 | -5 |
| GRAND TOTAL | 16,769,153,236 | 18,265,627,707 | 8.9% |