Global airline capacity for September 2009 is showing positive growth for the second consecutive month, reports OAG. The world’s airlines have scheduled 296.9 million seats, a rise of 1.4 per cent (4.1 million more seats) over September 2008 levels. Air cargo capacity is closely linked to passenger seat numbers as over 80 per cent of air cargo is carried in the bellies of passenger aircraft.

“As the [northern] summer season winds down, the steady upward trend we have seen since May is continuing. After 11 straight months of capacity cutbacks, these figures indicate a growing confidence within the industry that demand for air travel is starting to pick up,” said David Beckerman, vice president of OAG Market Intelligence.

Frequencies are marginally down compared to September 2008. The world’s airlines have scheduled a total of 2.4 million flights for September 2009, down by 0.6 per cent (14,321 fewer flights) compared with the same month last year. Last month, the year-on-year global frequency figure was down by two per cent and capacity was up by 0.2 per cent, according to OAG.