PH air capacity up 69 percent post-lockdown

Aviation Updates Philippines – Comprehensive data gathered by RoutesOnline through its Recovery Tracker suggests passenger capacity for aviation in the Philippines is now up by 69 percent as of June 15, 2020, compared to statistics during the domestic flight resumptions on June 8, 2020.

Airlines operating to and from the Philippines had offered 158,592 seats in the second week of June. However, during the following week, the available capacity jumped to 268,044 seats, up by 69 percent or about 109,452 since the resumption of flights. Domestic flights have only resumed on the second week, which explains the significant increase.

While this may be artificially on the rise as of the moment, the data might have included the previous flights that have only been in operation during the early stages of the restart. Local governments have drastically limited the number of flights that vary from province to province to manage the spread of COVID-19.

Top 10 countries with highest passenger capacity for air travel as of June 15, 2020. Data from RoutesOnline Recovery Tracker.

Globally, today's capacity is only about 34.6 percent of what was offered the previous year. International capacity went down harshly beginning early to mid-March while it showed first signs of a setback around February.

China, although it has not yet fully recovered, remains the biggest market for air travel as it offered 13,003,069 seats last week. The United States comes next at 7,431,792, posting another steady increase, while Japan follows at 2,195,176 seats. Individually, Haneda airport was the busiest airport in the world with 626,327 seats.

Moreover, the Asia-Pacific still emerged as the most significant region as it offered 22,489,284 seats as of last week. More than half of those seats are accounted from China since other countries have remained adamant in wholly relaxing flight restrictions.

Even so, over the next few weeks, or months at best, Philippine air carriers are expected to gracefully rebound while they focus on rebuilding the domestic network first. The top three airlines have already relaunched limited domestic and international flights this month, and more flights are expected in the coming weeks.

The increase in passenger capacity does not necessarily define a robust rebound in air travel. Airlines may add more and more seats in the market, but it does not necessarily result in a good load factor in some destinations. It is too early to evaluate whether the market is now growing given there is still no tourism-driven demand, a critical factor in air travel.