KL and Jakarta – Asia’s fastest-growing airports
Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta airports have seen the strongest capacity growth in the Asia Pacific region over the last 12 months, according to a new report from OAG.
In its latest OAG Facts study, the aviation data specialist revealed that Kuala Lumpur International Airport had witnessed an increase of 552,000 aircraft seats in the 12 months since April 2012, while Jakarta Soekharno-Hatta International Airport’s seat volume has increased by 473,000. This puts the two Southeast Asian hubs second and fourth respectively in the global rankings. Dubai International Airport is comfortably first, with an extra 756,000 seats, with Istanbul’s Ataturk International Airport third (+529,000 seats) and Mexico City International Airport fifth (+458,000 seats). Guangzhou’s Baiyun International Airport was sixth in terms of capacity growth, with an extra 429,000 seats.
OAG noted that KL has seen seat capacity almost double since April 2004. Low-cost carriers have been a key factor in driving this growth, rising from a market share of 12% in 2004 to almost half of all seats at the airport in 2013. LCCs are now adding approximately 11,000 seats per day, while full-service carriers (FSC) are adding 7,500.
And while one LCC (AirAsia) and one FSC (Malaysia Airlines) are driving growth at KL, OAG revealed that the same trend is true in Jakarta, where low-cost Lion Air and full-service Garuda Indonesia are driving capacity growth. These two carriers have 68% of Jakarta’s market share at present, with Lion adding 356,000 seats in April 2013, compared to the same month last year, and Garuda adding 126,000. Garuda’s low-cost unit Citilink will add a further 186,000 seats.
Other airports seeing strong growth in April 2013 include Oslo (+410,000 seats), Seoul Incheon (+384,000 seats), Dallas-Fort Worth (+356,000 seats) and Sao Paulo Guarulhos (+350,000 seats).