Flight numbers in Europe up 9% over the week, shows Eurocontrol data

London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) - Flight numbers in Europe jumped 9% last week and closed the gap to the same week in 2019 to under 50% for the first time this year, data from Eurocontrol showed Monday.

The commercial flight count in 41 countries, ranging from Iceland to Morocco, Ukraine and Turkey, reached 122,971 over the seven days to June 20, up 10,198 from a week earlier.

It was the second-biggest weekly rise since the turn of the year and was only bettered by the week to June 6 when 11,975 flights were added.

After a downturn in April, which saw the flight count in European airspace drop over three weeks, the daily flight count has risen from an average of 10,841 over the week to April 25 to 17,567 over the week to June 20, a rise of 62%.

Prices for jet fuel cargoes arriving in north Europe, the benchmark assessment for the region, have also soared over the last few months amid the rally in crude prices.

From $545.50/mt on April 26, the cargo price reached a peak of $625.25/mt on June 16, a rise of $79.75/mt or around $10.1/b.

But crack levels for spot cargo prices versus Brent have been trending lower since May 20.