Aviation industry faces 'worst-ever downturn'

World aviation could be facing its worst-ever global downturn, figures out today showed.

There is set to be a 7% fall in the number of flights offered by airlines in the last three months of this year, travel information company OAG said.

Airlines worldwide will offer 59.7 million fewer seats in October-December 2008 compared with the same period last year, OAG added.

“From our statistics, it looks quite possible that we may be facing a far more severe global downturn than we have experienced before,” said OAG chief operating officer Steve Casley.

He went on: “The industry’s resilience will be pushed to its limits in the coming months, with carriers, airports and passengers alike all waiting and watching for a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.”

His comments followed those of British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh who said last week that airlines were now operating in the “worst trading environment ever” as he announced an 88% dip in BA first-quarter profits for 2008-09.

Today, OAG said that routes would be axed at 275 airports around the world in the autumn 2008 period.

Worst-hit sector in October-December 2008 is the US domestic market which will account for nearly 20 million of the dip in seats available.

The number of Asian and European flights will also be cut, but transatlantic routes are bucking the trend by showing a 1% increase in flights for autumn 2008.

Mr Casley added: “The data speaks for itself. It took a good three years for the industry to recover from the downturn in 2001 when it had a 5% drop in capacity and a 7% drop in flights.

“Steady annual growth since 2002 looks set to plummet in the fourth quarter this year with an unprecedented global decline of 7%.”