Tourism & Air Transport: Central Asia is one of the fastest growing
4 avril 2023
Writing
Central Asia has seen some interesting changes in both market structure and available capacity, said John Grant, chief analyst at OAG, the renowned international analyst firm.
« Central Asia is the second fastest growing market; however, it should also be noted that it ranks as the smallest region in the world in terms of capacity, although in terms of distance it is huge, covering four million km2, which is double the West« .
Another factor affecting the respective size of Central Asia is that there are only four major national markets covered, while in many other regions multiple national markets are covered; Western Europe, for example, covers 27 countries ranging from the United Kingdom to the Faroe Islands.
This is why the region’s capacity growth rate is impressive; comparing planned air capacity for summer 2019 to this year (summer 2023), with Tajikistan almost doubling its capacity +97%, and passing the 8 million seat mark, we find Kazakhstan with an impressive growth of 38% compared to the level of 2019.
There are currently 47 scheduled airlines operating in Central Asia, a number very similar to the number operating in the summer of 2019, although there have been some notable changes on these airlines during the pandemic.
The top 10 airlines include local carriers and some major inbound carriers, Air Astana is the largest carrier with nearly 5 million scheduled seats planned for the summer season, a staggering 71% increase over its 2019 summer production.
The increased capacity growth of local airlines is obviously a sign of confidence in the market and in most cases reflects the growth of economic exchange and wealth in these countries, as a combination of trade, tourism and greater political stability has encouraged investment in the region.
