The US market might account for 15% of all domestic capacity on sale in 2017, but Australia provides more internal seats per capita.
The total capacity available in the US and Chinese domestic markets accounts for more seats than the 56 next largest domestic networks combined in 2017. The US has traditionally had the largest network of internal services, but given its market maturity was only ninth amongst the top 12 countries for domestic growth from 2016 to 2017. The top ranked domestic markets that witnessed the strongest year-on-year percentage increases in capacity were generally associated with countries with less mature air service networks and developing economies. China, India and Indonesia lead the way, with each country experiencing a 14% increase in domestic seats from 2016 to 2017. Russia, which has a more mature air service network, also witnessed a 14% increase in domestic capacity.
The six domestic airport pairs which experienced the most capacity in 2017 can all be classified as operating within the Asia Pacific region. The largest domestic route is the internal South Korean service from Seoul Gimpo to Jeju which witnessed nearly seven million seats operated across more than 33,000 flights over the course of the year. OAG schedules show that during the week commencing 21 November, the Seoul Gimpo-Jeju sector will be served by 623 frequencies.
Australians should have no problem finding a seat on domestic connections, since the Antipodean island offers 3.2 domestic seats per capita in 2017. This is higher than any of the other top 12 domestic markets. There are more than 78 million seats on offer to an estimated population of 24.5 million in Australia in 2017. That is in stark contrast to India where there are about 143 million seats on offer to 1.3 billion people, or 0.1 seats per capita. The largest domestic airport pair in Australia is the connection from Sydney-Melbourne, which will support 5.1 million one-way seats across more than 27,000 flights in 2017.
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