Rankings

United ends 2011 as world's largest airline as Emirates encroaches on the number three spot

The single operating certificate that was granted to United-Continental last month will see the combined entity overtake Delta Air Lines as the world's largest airline. American Airlines has dropped to third in the ranking, based on available seat kilometers, and through capacity cuts associated with its bankruptcy may fall to fourth place next year, allowing Emirates to swoop in as third largest. If American and US Airways merge they would likely fall just under United Airlines but could catch up in subsequent years.

Airlines slowing capacity growth as 2011 draws to a close - LCCs buck the trend

The world's airlines are paring back capacity deployment this month, growing their available seat kilometres (ASK) by 5.5% year-on-year - the slowest pace of growth this year. According to Innovata, the world's airlines are scheduling just a 3% increase in flights and a 4.5% increase in seating capacity. It follows last week's warning from IATA that it is "still expecting a general weakening in passenger traffic as we head toward the year-end”.

However, the world's LCC continue to buck the global trend, expanding their flights, seats and ASKs by 5.6%, 6.3% and 7.4%, respectively, year-on-year. By seats per week, LCCs now command 22.3% of global aviation. There are a few exceptions to the LCC growth rule, with Ryanair and easyJet enacting seasonal capacity reductions, though this year's cutbacks are particularly harsh.

LCCs and SkyTeam member airlines continue to grow their share of global aviation

The world's airlines may be feeling the chill winds of economic downturn, but they continue to grow capacity at a rapid clip. Total capacity measured by available seat kilometres (ASKs) will grow by 7.1% this month, according to Innovata. The world's LCCs are, again, growing ahead of the global average, by 8.5%, while SkyTeam Alliance capacity is growing by 18.3%, thanks to the enlargement of the grouping and expansion by its members.

SkyTeam now accounts for 17.8% of worldwide capacity (up 1.7 ppts year-on-year). It still trails Star Alliance's 25.3% share (-1 ppt) but is closing the gap. oneworld has a 13.8% share of ASKs (down 0.1 ppt), while the world's LCCs and un-aligned airlines account for 17% and 26.2% of global aviation, respectively.

Asia Pacific airlines dominate widebody fleet deliveries over next 12 months

Seven of the top ten airlines by widebody deliveries scheduled over the next 12 months are in Asia, with only Emirates, Lufthansa and Qatar Airways also in the leading group. ANA heads the list, thanks to its hectic B787 induction schedule, while Cathay Pacific, Air China and China Southern all have 15 or more widebodies on order for delivery over the next 12 months. Malaysia Airlines, Air India and Japan Airlines are also present in the Top 10. Asia Pacific airlines are likely to be in hot demand for airport route developers worldwide in coming months.

Where are the world's leading LCC airports?

LCCs now account for about a fifth of all flights globally, making it increasingly vital for airports and air traffic management providers to understand the sector and its drivers. Worldwide, of the top 20 airports for LCC aircraft movements, 12 are in the US, four are in Europe and the remainder are in the Asia Pacific region. (By seats, ten are in the US, and five each in Europe and Asia Pacific). As ever, though, the global LCC market is in flux. Airlines expand or contract their operations at airports in relation to their own growth trajectories and the changes in season.

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.

The world's top ten routes are in Asia Pacific

The world's busiest air route is...Tokyo Haneda-Sapporo Chitose. Indeed the top ten are all in the Asia Pacific region, which reflects its rise as the world's pre-eminent aviation market. Many of Asia's leading route pairs are in the established markets of Japan and Australia. But it is also interesting that among the airports represented as end points in the top 10 routes, ten of the airports fail to rank in the world's Top 30 airports. Though Sapporo has an enormous seat offer to Haneda, it has far less impact elsewhere.

Emirates and Lufthansa growing strongly this summer: World's biggest airlines rankings for August

Lufthansa and Emirates are the fastest growing carriers of the global top ten, increasing their capacity (ASKs) by 12.4% and 8.1% year-on-year, respectively. Delta remains the world's leading carrier by this measure, followed by American Airlines and United Airlines. Combined, United-Continental is roughly 3.3% bigger than Delta by systemwide ASKs.

LCCs and unaligned carriers take greater share of global aviation again in August 2011

The world's low-cost carriers (LCC) and airlines not part of the global alliances have taken market share away from the leading global groupings again this month, continuing a theme of recent months. Over the past 12 months, LCCs have increased their share of global aviation (in terms of seats per week) from 22.9% in Aug-2010 to 23.8% in Aug-2011, while the un-aligned carriers have risen from 27.6% to 28.8%. Over the same period, Star Alliance's share has fallen 0.9 ppts to 23.1%, while oneworld has lost 0.8 ppts to 10.2%. SkyTeam has seen its share drop 0.3% to 14.1%, according to Innovata schedule data.

The world's top 30 airports: a disparate grouping

The world's top 30 airports all have the same base task to accomplish, getting people on and off aircraft, but they are far from a homogeneous group. CAPA has been profiling each of the top 30, based on passenger throughput and as ranked by Airports Council International (ACI), and now we summarise the group.

Airports expect another good year after global pax traffic exceeded 5 billion in 2010

Strong global economic growth in the latter half of 2011 is expected to propel the aviation sector to “another good year” in 2011 with strong traffic growth in 2010 and the first half of 2011 demonstrating the industry’s resilience in recovering from a downturn and resuming its historical trajectory of impressive growth, according to Airports Council International (ACI).

A decade of change for the global airline industry: A new and altered reality in the rankings

A decade is a respectable amount of time in our era when not only change but also the pace of change appears ever faster. Constant improvements in technology have made cutting-edge devices of 2000 seem to be quaint relics ten years later. However, there are also other factors, such as macroeconomic forces, at work that can bring enormous change as well. While not unanticipated, China has surpassed many other nations and soon is expected to be the world’s dominant economy. There have also been demographic shifts, political change and the emergence of new business models.