Air trends: global flights up, apart from Latin America

The bankruptcy of Mexicana airlines is continuing to have an effect on flights to Central and South America, according to figures released February 9.

In its monthly air traffic trends report, OAG Aviation reported that all global markets saw year-on-year growth this month with the exception of Central and South America, which lost Mexicana's services last August after the airline filed for bankruptcy.

Although four percent more flights will take to the skies this month around the world, a total of 2.3 million flight departures, the number of seats available for flights to and from Central and South America fell by three percent year-on-year.

Despite this fall, the number of seats to some regions of Latin America, particularly Brazil, grew strongly, said OAG.

The fastest growth in flight numbers was seen to and from the Middle East and to and from Asia Pacific, which both jumped by 13 percent this month compared to the same month in 2010 - a total of 49,014 flights to and from the Middle East and 55,965 flights to and from Asia Pacific.

Growth in flights to and from Europe was also strong, up ten percent to a total of 93,558 flights arriving or departing the region in February.

The number of flights to and from North America stayed essentially the same in February, although larger airliners meant that there was a slight increase in the number of seats available to book.

Data provided by OAG Aviation http://www.oagaviation.com/