The number of daily flights in Europe edged above 6,000 per day for the first time since March 24, showing that the recovery in air travel across the region is beginning to take shape. Data from EUROCONTROL shows that on June 2, traffic levels increased above that figure and stayed there for four days in a row.
Last week, the number of operations across the continent was up by 675 on average per day, compared with the previous week, a growth of 13%.
June 2 saw 6,013 flights take place and the rest of the week also experienced activity levels above 6,000. By Friday, traffic figures stood at 6,727 individual movements.
Eamonn Brennan, director general of EUROCONTROL, commented: “Announcements by a large number of European countries about the opening of the internal Schengen borders by mid-June followed by wider openings in early July have given confidence to airlines to operate throughout the network and to passengers to book flights.
“The focus must now be on supporting this return to growth with coordinated and consistent measures across Europe which according to our analysis could allow us to return to 80% of expected traffic by the end of the year.”
EUROCONTROL says that if operational procedures and national restrictions were fully coordinated across Europe, July could see 32% of flights resuming with 50% by August. It warns that if measures to battle COVID-19 are uncoordinated, these numbers could be much lower.
