European flight numbers stable in April, highest daily average this year

London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) - The number of flights in European airspace has flatlined in April but the daily average this month to date is the highest since December, data from Eurocontrol, the Brussels-based aviation safety agency showed Wednesday.

Flight numbers in 41 European continent countries, ranging from Iceland to Turkey and Ukraine, dipped to 75,993 over the seven days to April 18, a tad lower than the 76,322 over the week to April 11 and 76,476 over the week to April 4.

But there has been a sustained gain in April compared to the slump between mid-January and mid-March when weekly flight numbers ranged from a low of 61,300 to a high of 65,728.

The daily average this month to April 20 rose to 10,824 flights, the highest this year.

Even with the disruption of Covid-19 restrictions, which has seen flight numbers more than 60% lower than pre-crisis 2019 levels, flight numbers still followed the usual seasonal decline from the summer to winter.

Daily flight numbers dropped from 10,341 in December down to 9,234 in January and then hit a low of 8,955 in February, before climbing to 9,942 in March.   

Jet prices in north Europe have maintained a steady premium of around $20/mt above Low Sulfur Gasoil futures this week, but refining margins for aviation fuel remain around $1/b lower than diesel, and production of jet fuel has been cut to the bone.