The available seat kilometer (ASK), for most legacy and low cost carriers in the region covering August 2012 comparing it with the same period of last year reveal the following:

  1. Emirates Airlines maintained its leadership in ASK, with over two-fold its nearest competitor, not taking into account its low cost sister airline, flydubai.
  2. Once again Emirates and flydubai both mark one of the highest growth rates.
  3. Three low cost carriers Bahrain Air, flydubai and Jazeera Airways each mark around 40 % growth over the same period last year. While Air Arabia and RAK Airways are experiencing a modest 7.5% and 12.1% growth rate respectively over the same period last year.
  4. Tunis Air and EgyptAir are showing signs of recovery and each marking a healthy double-digit growth rate over the same period despite their unresolved domestic issues.
  5. Syria Arab Airlines has been hit hardest, operating at close to 11% of ASK capacity from the same period last year.
  6. Yemen Airways and Felix Airways both Yemeni carriers are experiencing double-digit negative growth.
  7. Saudi Arabian Airlines, Gulf Air and Royal Jordan are experiencing single-digit negative growth each, this may be attributed to their announced route restructuring and optimization plans.
  8. Qatar Airways has a single-digit growth over the same period last year despite its aggressive route expansion in 2012.
  9. Both legacy national carriers Kuwait Airways and Oman Air are experiencing a modest 7.8% and 11.3% growth rate respectively over the same period last year.

The importance of ASK it's a reflection of an airline flight's passenger carrying capacity, equal to the number of seats available multiplied by the distance flown (in kilometers). An available seat kilometer is the fundamental unit of production for a passenger-carrying airline. A unit in this case is one seat, available for sale, flown one kilometer.

Arab Carriers – Available Seat Kilometers (ASK) /WeekAugust 2012 vs 2011

Airline Aug-2011 Aug-2012 Percentage Change
Air Arabia 236,752,572 254,459,727 7.5%
Bahrain Air BSC 22,868,012 32,374,108 41.6%
Egyptair 589,078,043 650,167,357 10.4%
Emirates 3,949,442,849 4,708,115,952 19.2%
Etihad Airways 963,050,784 1,123,005,309 16.6%
Felix Airways 5,635,005 4,299,330 -23.7%
Flydubai 169,921,737 240,319,744 41.4%
Gulf Air 301,545,648 291,982,419 -3.2%
Jazeera Airways 30,397,627 42,482,167 39.8%
Kuwait Airways 183,668,487 198,019,217 7.8%
Middle East Airlines 133,072,762 137,612,725 3.4%
Oman Air (SAOG) 222,800,223 247,871,099 11.3%
Qatar Airways 1,565,421,201 1,719,726,145 9.9%
RAK Airways 16,096,820 18,050,853 12.1%
Royal Air Maroc 368,205,538 386,708,821 5.0%
Royal Jordanian 274,569,600 268,257,193 -2.3%
Saudi Arabian Airlines 984,123,282 973,895,020 -1.0%
Syrian Arab Airlines 45,488,544 497,313 -98.9%
Tunis Air 149,206,016 171,910,755 15.2%
Yemenia Yemen Airways 61,595,237 53,641,146 -12.9%
GRAND TOTAL 10,272,939,989 11,523,396,402 12.2%

Published with the kind permission of Innovata


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