OAG Blog recently covered an increase in scheduled airline capacity as China
In recent weeks both LATAM and Avianca have entered bankruptcy protection. While LATAM may emerge with the help of supportive shareholders…This does, however, provide opportunities. The barriers to entry for a new airline may not have been so low in many years. With so many aircraft parked up at airfields around the world, there may be an abundance of planes available for a start-up. Equally, the general down-sizing of the industry may mean that there are qualified flight crew readily available. The price of fuel, always a major factor, has dropped well below the norm in recent history. And competition may be exhausted. Existing competitor airlines will be working to recover rather than expand, aiming to build balance sheets before focussing on growth.