Flight numbers stable in Europe over first two weeks of April

London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) - Flight numbers were stable in Europe over the first two weeks of April, data from Eurocontrol, the Brussels-based agency for flight safety which monitors 41 countries from Iceland to Turkey and the Ukraine, showed Thursday.

But traffic was still down 64% from a year earlier.

Demand for flying passenger planes is also worse than the flight numbers show.

"A significant proportion of flight operations for some of the largest airlines are actually non-commercial, i.e. training flights and circular flights to maintain pilot ratings," noted Eurocontrol.

The UK, with its focus on international travel, is the worst affected by Covid-19, with flight numbers on April 14 down 81% year-on-year.

Germany was the busiest country with 1,934 flights yesterday, but down 68% from a year earlier.

It was followed by France with 1,526 flights, down 67% year-on-year, Turkey with 1,311 flight and down 48% year-on-year, Spain with 1,253 flight and down 74% year-on-year, and then the UK with 1,146 flights.

Most of the flights are within Europe.

There were 10,945 flights on April 14, split between 8,143 intra-Europe and 2,387 intercontinental.