Global airline seat capacity fell year-on-year across all major regions in the first two weeks of March, with the Middle East conflict emerging as a key drag on international traffic, according to new data from UBS.
The UBS Evidence Lab global airline traffic monitor, which tracks available seat kilometres, showed the US suffering one of the sharpest deteriorations, with capacity down 7% compared with the same period a year ago, against a flat reading in February.
Europe also weakened, with average capacity falling 4% year-on-year, deteriorating from a 1% decline in February.
Within Europe, the UK and Germany were the worst performers, both down 7%, while Spain and Italy proved more resilient, holding roughly flat and up 1% respectively.
China bucked the global trend with capacity still up 8% year-on-year, though that too represented a slowdown from 15% growth in February, partly reflecting favourable Chinese New Year comparisons in the earlier period.
Among individual airlines, International Consolidated Airlines Group's (LSE:IAG) British Airways continued to lag, with seat capacity down 2% in February, while low-cost carriers Ryanair Holdings PLC (LSE:RYA) and Wizz Air Holdings PLC (AIM:WIZZ) remained in positive territory, up 6% and 4% respectively.