June 7, 2013

OAG Worldwide Limited, also known as the Official Airline Guide, is a United Kingdom based travel news, data and ranking service.
The company released its June OAG FACTS (Frequency and Capacity Trend Statistics) report. You can view it by following this link: http://www.oag.com/sites/default/files/June%20FACTS.pdf

We thought the findings are interesting because Mexico is one of four countries that replaced the previously ranked four fastest growing countries in airline seat capacity in the world.

The four fastest growing countries in airline seat capacity are now Turkey, Indonesia, Mexico and the Philippines, and in the past five years have a combined average annual growth rate of 16%.

Brazil, Russia, India and China were previously the four fastest growing countries in seat capacity, and their combined average annual growth rate was 10% during the past five years.

These fastest growing countries "...were grouped together due to their high levels of economic growth and favourable demographics. In fact, the International Monetary Fund forecasts increases in gross domestic product this year of 3.5% for Turkey and Mexico, 4.8% for the Philippines and 6.3% for Indonesia.", according to the study.

International seat capacity has grown at an average of 10% over the past five years as well.

Why the rapid growth rates in these four countries? According to an OAG executive, Low Cost Carriers (LLCs) have expanded their airline seating capacity rapidly over the past five years. He says: “In Indonesia, Lion Air has 52% of domestic capacity and for the year-to-date has added 5.2 million seats compared to 2012. In the last year, Indonesia AirAsia has increased its seat capacity by 62% and has added a further 2 million seats so far in 2013. In Mexico, low-cost carriers have added 1.8 million seats so far in 2013, with the vast majority coming from Volaris and Vivaaerobus, while low-cost airline Pegasus has added nearly 1 million domestic seats in Turkey so far in 2013 compared to 2012."

We feel this is good news for all of us. Mexico's economy is growing. It remains an attractive vacation alternative for those of us who have vested interests in the country. We believe the numbers of new visitors will increase too. Mexico is trying hard to increase its appeal through improvements to infrastructure in the major tourist centers.

Finally, in line with the above report, today we received more good news from Grupo Vidanta that Aeromexico will begin regularly scheduled Thursday and Sunday flights from Las Vegas to Puerto Penasco on June 20, 2013. More seats.

All good news, from our perspective. How about yours?