Flight numbers jump 11.5% week-on-week in Europe

London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) - Flights over European skies jumped 11.5% last week, although were still around 60% below levels seen two years ago, data from Eurocontrol, the Brussels-based agency for aviation safety.

The number of commercial flights in 41 countries, ranging from Iceland across to Turkey and the Ukraine, rose to 90,711 over the seven days to May 23, up 9,418 flights from a week earlier.

Flight numbers have been trending higher since they slumped in January amid the third wave of Covid-19 in Europe.  

There were around 29,400 more flights over Europe last week than in last week of January, the data shows.

The week-on-week increase left European flight numbers 59.9% below the same week in 2019, up from 63.3% below on May 16.

Refining margins for jet prices in Europe have risen sharply this month, Quantum data shows.

Cracks for jet fuel cargoes arriving into Rotterdam and Le Havre were pegged at $5.12/b versus front month Brent futures, up from $4.06/b at the start of the month.

But jet cracks were still around $1.30/b below ultra-low sulfur diesel cracks in ARA.