OAG, the world’s leading provider of aviation data and analytics, today released its latest market capacity insights, revealing a mixed global performance for September, with overall seat capacity growth remaining modest but key regions and airlines showing significant upticks.
Global scheduled capacity for September is projected to reach 515.1 million seats, representing a 2.4% increase year-over-year compared to September 2024, although this figure is considerably lower than the peak month of July (559 million seats).
Among the world’s Top 20 airlines, US carriers continue to drive frequency expansion:
United Airlines leads all airlines, adding the most extra frequencies with 6,900 more flights scheduled compared to September 2024.
Delta Air Lines follows closely, adding 5,500 frequencies.
Turkish Airlines is the fastest-growing airline by percentage this month, with its capacity up 7.9% year-over-year.
In contrast, Azul Airlines saw the most significant reduction, down 9.2% compared to last year.
IndiGo has shifted from its earlier strong growth trend, now showing a slight reduction in flying compared to last year at -0.5%.
Capacity performance is notably varied across IATA regions:
Central Asia continues its strong growth trend, recording the highest regional increase, up 12.1% year-over-year.
All four African regions are experiencing growth, with Southern Africa leading the continent at 10.3% ahead of last September.
Turkiye is a standout domestic performer, with its domestic market capacity surging 16.2%, adding 740,000 more seats than in September 2024.
Other domestic markets showing robust growth include Canada and Australia (both up 7%) and Brazil (up 5%).
Despite the overall growth, some major markets are experiencing contractions:
Capacity is down in three regions compared to September 2024: North America (down 0.4%), Upper South America (down 2.7%), and the Caribbean (the most significant decline at -3.4%).
Performance among the world’s largest domestic markets is mixed, with Indonesia seeing the biggest drop (down 12.2%), and Japan, India, and the USA also experiencing a contraction in domestic capacity.
