OAG Reports Global Airline Capacity Up 4% In December 2009

Low Cost Sector Continues to Show Growth with Frequencies and Capacity Up 10%

CHICAGO, December 21 - Global airline capacity for December 2009 shows positive growth compared
to December 2008, reports OAG, (www.oagaviation.com) the world's leading
aviation data business with its monthly report on trends in the supply of
airline flights and seats. There are 294.8 million seats available this
month, a rise of 4% over December 2008 levels. Global frequencies are up 1%
compared to December 2008, with a total of 2.4 million flights scheduled for
December 2009, despite an average North American frequency decline of 2%.
Worldwide, frequencies and capacity in the low cost sector are both up by 10%
compared to a year ago, accounting for 444,539 flights (18%) and 65.6 million
seats (22%).

John Weber, senior vice president OAG Aviation, said, "Global capacity
continues to rise, boosted by worldwide increases in both frequency and
capacity in the low cost sector, which would tend to show us that travelers
are choosing to fly airlines that offer more economical choices. This
increase in December 2009 capacity recovers the global pull-down of minus 10
million scheduled seats in 2008 and brings us back to the pre-crisis level of
December 2007, but the characteristics of many markets have fundamentally
changed," Weber continued.

Analysis of major routes reveals that frequency and capacity on certain
routes reflect positive growth, while others are showing strong decreases.
Leading the growth is traffic between Western Europe and Africa with an
increase of 19% (3,883) in the number of flights and an 18% increase in seats
(710,129). However, between Western Europe and North America there is a 9%
decrease in the number of flights and an 8% decrease in the number of seats.

Frequency and capacity between North America and Central/South America
are up 5% compared to December 2008. A hubs analysis shows that Beijing has
seen an impressive 10% increase in the number of flights and a 9% increase in
seats, while Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport shows a negative growth of 6% in
the number of flights and a 4% reduction in capacity. A similar trend can be
seen for other major European hubs, with flights at Amsterdam Schiphol down
7% and seats down 6%.

The month-by-month trend since the start of the economic downturn can be
seen in chart format at www.oagaviation.com/trends-chart-dec09.jpg.

The figures are revealed in the December 2009 edition of OAG FACTS
(Frequency & Capacity Trend Statistics), the dynamic monthly market
intelligence tool providing the latest data on current passenger airline
activity around the world.

OAG FACTS uses interactive graphs to display a visual trend of the
performance of a specific airport, route, country or region from 2001
onwards, sourced from OAG's consolidated database of global airline
schedules. A more detailed review of this month's OAG FACTS statistics -
including information about specific regions, routes and airports with
illustrative charts and graphs - is available to download at
www.oagaviation.com/aviation-reports/reports-facts-1209.htm.

OAG, based in London, Chicago and Singapore, collects and distributes the
most accurate and complete global aviation intelligence.

Pamela Johnston, President, PJ Inc. Public Relations, +1-212-629-8445, Pamela at pjinc.net