April 26 (Reuters) – Global airline capacity has surged to its highest level in 2022 this week because of a rebound in Chinese domestic demand despite extended lockdowns in Asia’s biggest aviation market, travel data firm OAG said on Tuesday.
Asian jet fuel refining margins , which have more than doubled in the past two months, were at $30.04 a barrel over Dubai crude on Monday, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
Shanghai’s COVID-19 lockdown has dragged into a fourth week and mass testing orders in Beijing have sparked fears that the Chinese capital could be destined for a similar fate. read more
But global airlines have added 2.5 million seats in the week to Monday, nearly half of which are in China, OAG data showed.
“This reverses the reductions in capacity that have occurred over recent weeks as a consequence of the travel restrictions in the Shanghai area in particular,” the data firm said in a statement.
Total scheduled airline capacity in Northeast Asia rose 10.8% in the week to Monday from the previous week, according to OAG. The region’s capacity, however, remains about 36% lower than the corresponding week in 2019, before the pandemic. Read more
