SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
1
EUROCONTROL
Comprehensive Assessment
16 December 2021
COVID 19
IMPACT ON
EUROPEAN AVIATION
Traffic Situation
25%
Compared to
equivalent days
in 2019
Daily flights (including overflights)
Traffic over the last 7 days is
Headlines
20,575 flights (74% of 2019 levels) on Wed 15 December 2021, increasing over 2 weeks (+8%).
Tightened travel restrictions to fight the Omicron wave have constrained flight activity in the first half of
December (75%) but the effect seems to have levelled off, with the second half of December expected to
show slightly stronger rates (~80%) owing to the holiday period; the impact for January is unclear.
Yesterday, Ryanair was the busiest Aircraft Operator with 1,837 flights, followed by Turkish Airlines (982),
easyJet (898), Lufthansa (831), Air France (763) and KLM (592).
Domestic traffic vs 2019: Europe (-25%), USA (-16%), China (-29%,) and Middle-East (-12%).
Flights to/from Europe (intercontinental flows) are at -31% vs 2019 on 15 December.
Charter (+25%), All-cargo (+8%) and Business Aviation (+6%) are above 2019 levels. The two other
segments still below 2019 levels with: Traditional at -33% vs 2019 and Low-cost at -30%.
2
2
+16%
+0%
+13%
+8%
+9%
+3%
+5%
+11%
+28%
+7%
3,503
3,382
3,062
2,876
2,307
1,762
1,293
1,196
883
777
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
Top 10 Busiest States
on Wed 15 December 2021
(Dep/Arr flights and variation over 2 weeks)
Top 10 Aircraft Operators
on Wed 15 December 2021 (daily flights)
Ryanair Group
1.
2.
3.
4.
5. 6. 7.
8. 9. 10.
Turkish Airlines
easyJet Group
Lufthansa Airlines
Air France Group
KLM Group
SAS Group
Bri ti sh Ai rways Grp
Wizz Air Group
Wideroe
Operated
38%
898 flights
of same day in 2019
73%
over 2 weeks
Operated
36%
425 flights
of same day in 2019
over 2 weeks
74%
Operated
42%
831 flights
of same day in 2019
over 2 weeks
7%
Operated
24%
592 flights
of same day in 2019
over 2 weeks
9%
Operated
7%
367 flights
of same day in 2019
over 2 weeks
1%
Operated
4%
1837 flights
of same day in 2019
over 2 weeks
0%
Operated
36%
513 flights
of same day in 2019
over 2 weeks
5%
Operated
46%
478 flights
of same day in 2019
over 2 weeks
9%
Operated
37%
763 flights
of same day in 2019
2%
over 2 weeks
Operated
13%
982 flights
of same day in 2019
over 2 weeks
2%
Top 10 Busiest Airports
3
7-day average Dep/Arr flights on 9–15 Dec. 2021, compared to 2019
Fuel price
Traffic Flow
16,130
flights
+8%
over past
2 weeks
-25%
Compared
to 2019
On 15 December, the intra-European traffic flow
was
vs. 2019
Economics
Fuel price
207
Cents/gallon
compared to
196 cents/gallon on 3 Dec 2021
(10 December 2021)
Source: IATA/Platts
(November 2021)
Route charges
€ 425 million
vs. Jan-Nov 2019
(-49%)
Amount billed:
Jan-Nov 2021 amount billed:
Source: EUROCONTROL
€ 3,714 million
SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
Overall traffic situation at network level
20,575 flights on Wednesday
15 December.
+8% with +1,450 flights over
2 weeks
(from Wednesday 1
December).
+1% with +171 flights over 1
week
(from Wednesday 9
December).
74% of 2019 traffic levels on
Wednesday 15 December.
4
SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
Current traffic evolution
The traffic at network level
has reached its maximum
on Friday 27 August 2021
with 26,773 flights (-27.7%
vs 2019).
Since early September, it
has slowly decreased. With
the winter schedule, it has
stabilized around 75% of
2019 levels.
Tightened travel
restrictions to fight the
Omicron wave have
constrained the flight
activity for a few weeks
now. But the effect seems
to have levelled off very
recently.
5
SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
Current situation compared to the latest EUROCONTROL traffic
scenarios
For the first 15 days of
December 2021,
network traffic was at
75% compared to same
period in 2019.
Network traffic is
between the low and the
base scenarios of the
EUROCONTROL traffic
scenarios published on
15 October 2021.
Second half of December
is expected to show
slightly stronger rates
(~80%) owing to the
holiday period.
6
SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
Market Segments
7
On 15 December 2021, compared
to 2019:
Three segments are above 2019
levels: All-cargo (+8%), and
Charter (+25%) which are stable
since early November. Business
Aviation (+6%) slow down over
the last weeks, owing to both
tightened travel restrictions and
the “classical” seasonal effect.
Since early November, Traditional
have stabilized at -33% vs 2019
while Low-Cost, after having
reached a maximum of -18% end
October, have gradually
decreased to reach -30% vs 2019.
SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
Aircraft operators (Daily flights)
Top 10
Within the top 10, highest increases
over 2 weeks for:
easyJet (+380 flights; +73%) mainly
due to domestic in France as well as
Spain-UK, France-Italy and France-
UK .
Wizz Air (+181 flights; +74%)
mainly due flows with Romania.
Highest (slight) decreases for:
Lufthansa (-59 flights; -7%) mainly
due to domestic flows in Germany
and Germany-Poland flow.
SAS (-28 flights; -5%) mainly due to
domestic flows in Norway.
8
Ryanair is by far the busiest Aircraft Operator with 1,837 flights, followed by
Turkish Airlines (982), easyJet (898), Lufthansa (831), and Air France (763).
Over 2 weeks, easyJet and Wizzair increased their ranking while main flag carriers
decreased.
SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
Aircraft operators (Daily flights)
Top 40 – Latest operations
Highest increases in flights for easyJet (+73% over 2 weeks) and Wizzair (+74%).
Highest (slight) decreases for Lufthansa (-32%), Eurowings (-22%) and SAS (-5%).
Traffic levels ranging from -68% (Eurowings) to +7% (Loganair) vs 2019.
9
SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
Aircraft operators
Latest news
European airlines
Air France-KLM repays €500m and changes the redemption profile of the rest of a
€4 billion loan guaranteed by the French state.
Air Nostrum CFO says that the project to merge with CityJet is still alive: “We hope
to launch it shortly”.
British Airways operating daily repatriation services to South Africa from 30
November; announces that its planned short haul, Gatwick-based, subsidiary will
commence services in March.
easyJet reports a loss before tax of £1.1 billion for the year to September.
Eurowings reports it has sold 100,000 ‘free middle seats’ since it introduced this
option in summer 2020.
Finnair reports 487k passengers in November, 55.1% fewer than in 2019 (domestic
-48%, Europe -48%, North Atlantic -55%, Asia -84%).
Royal Air Maroc suspends passenger services to and from Morocco following
Morocco’s decision to suspend direct flights into the country.
ITA signs codeshare agreements with KLM, Air France and Etihad; orders 7 A330-
100s, 11 A320neos and 10 A330-900neos.
Lufthansa plans to maintain connectivity with South Africa, transporting cargo and
eligible passengers.
Ryanair Group reports 10.2 million passengers in November, 7% fewer than in
2019 and with a load factor of 86%.
SAS reports 1.3 million passengers in November, 45.4% fewer than in 2019, with a
load factor of 60.3%.
10
Aeroflot planning to take delivery of 2 A350s and 9 SSJ-100s by the end of the year,
reducing its A319 fleet by 2 and its A320 fleet by 5.
American Airlines suspends planned 2022 services from Philadelphia to Edinburgh and
Shannon as a result of continued delivery delays of Boeing 787s ANA plans to sell
business class meals for home consumption; plans to raise $1.3 billion through the issue
of 10 year, zero coupon, convertible bonds.
Cathay Pacific suspends one third of its services as Hong Kong tightens travel
restrictions; reports 70k passengers in November, 97.3% down on 2019; the month’s
cargo capacity was 71% of 2019, with a record of 1035 pairs of cargo only services with
passenger aircraft.
Emirates resumes its daily service to London Gatwick, using A380s.
Etihad Airways is seeking cabin crew from Slovenia and Serbia, to be based in Abu
Dhabi.
United Airlines operates a commercial 737 MAX flight with one engine powered by
100% SAF.
Worldwide airlines
Turkish Airlines reports 4.2 million passengers in November, 26.1% fewer than in 2019,
with a load factor of 70.1%.
Wizz Air reports 2.2 million passengers in November, 27% fewer than in 2019 and with a
load factor of 76%; reports 90% of its crew members are now vaccinated; states that
Omicron variant is reinforcing the trend towards last minute bookings.
Within the top 10, main highest increases
over two weeks for:
UK (+478 flights; +16%) mainly due to
easyJet, light AOs and British Airways.
Domestic flows and flows with Spain,
France and Switzerland.
France (+351 flights; +13%) mainly due to
easyJet, light Aos and Transavia. Domestic
flows and flows with UK, Switzerland and
Spain.
Spain (+219 flights; +8%) mainly due to
easyJet, Netjets and One Air. Spain-UK,
France –Spain and domestic flows.
Switzerland (+192 flights; +28%) due to
light AOs, Swiss and easyJet. Flows with
France, UK and domestic flows.
States (Daily Departure/Arrival flights)
SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
Top 10
11
UK is the State with the highest number of dep/arr flights (3,503) followed by
Germany (3,382), France (3,062), Spain (2,876) and Italy (2,307).
Over 2 weeks, UK and Switzerland increased their ranking while Germany
decreased.
States (Daily Departure/Arrival flights)
SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
Top 10 over the last rolling week
12
States (Daily Departure/Arrival flights)
SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
Latest traffic situation
Highest increases in flights for UK (+16% over 2 weeks), France (+13%) and Spain (+8%).
Highest (slight) decrease for Slovenia (-38%).
Traffic levels ranging from -79% (Morocco) to 11% (Bosnia-Herzegovina), compared to
2019.
13
Associations, Authorities, Industry and States
SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
IATA calls for the EU COVID certificate to have 12 months validity from the second vaccination, not 9 months as recommended by the
Commission.
SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking formally launched.
ZeroAvia planning commercialisation of hydrogen propulsion in 2024, initially with a 10-20 seat aircraft and then 40-80 seat aircraft in 2026/28.
14
Airbus confirms that some A350 are suffering early surface wear resulting in discolouration of the fuselage that it describes as a ‘cosmetic’ issue;
delivers 58 aircraft in November (including 44 A320/321s) and takes 318 orders, 285 of which are A320/321neos.
Boeing reports 109 orders and 34 deliveries in November (including 28 737MAX aircraft).
Albania and North Macedonia join the SECSI cross-border Free Route Airspace Programme.
Canada prohibits unvaccinated people from travelling by air or train (unless exempt).
China removes its designation of ‘unsafe condition’ on the 737 MAX and Boeing states it is working to end the grounding of the aircraft in China
by the end of the year.
Finland reports 82,539 tourist arrivals in October, 60.6% fewer than in 2019.
Portugal, Switzerland, the UK, Ireland, Cyprus, Italy and the US/Canada introduce mandatory testing for arrivals; France introduces it for
arrivals from outside Europe and Germany requires proof of vaccination, recovery or a negative test.
Taiwan reports 14,107 tourist arrivals in October, 98.5% fewer than in 2019.
The UK and France both introduce Free Route Airspace in part of their airspace.
15
En-route ATFM delays
En-route ATFM delays
reached a maximum early
August. Since then they
have decreased but
September has seen some
weather delays.
Major contributors over
the last 7 days: France
(54% of all en-route ATFM
delays), Germany (24%),
Spain (15%), Netherlands
(4%) and Portugal (3%).
SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
Traffic flows (Daily Departure/Arrival flights)
The main traffic flow is the intra-Europe flow with 16,130 flights on
Wednesday 15 December, which is increasing (+8%) over 2 weeks.
Intra-Europe flights are at -25% compared to 2019 while intercontinental
flows are at -31%.
The effects of Omicron can be seen on traffic with Southern Africa and also
with North Africa, where Morocco halted international passenger flights.
16
REGION 01-12-2021 15-12-2021 % vs. 2019
Intra-Europe 14,884 16,130 +8% -25%
Europe<->Asi a/Paci fi c 536 548 +2% -31%
Europe<->Mid-Atlantic 151
180 +19% -1%
Europe<->Mi ddle-East 989 992 +0% -25%
Europe<->North Atlanti c 746 781 +5% -20%
Europe<->North-Afri ca 382 397 +4% -54%
Europe<->Other Europe 444 472 +6% -41%
Europe<->South-Atlantic 116 133 +15% -28%
Europe<->Southern Africa 246 275 +12% -20%
Non Intra-Europe 3,610 3,778 +5% -31%
SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
Country pairs (Daily Departure/Arrival flights)
Within the top 10, highest increases over 2
weeks for:
France-France (+96 flights; +10%) owing light
AOs, easyJet, military flights and Volotea.
From/to many different airports.
Spain-UK (+77 flights; +30%) owing to easyJet,
Jet2.com, British Airways and TUI. Mainly
from/to London Gatwick, Manchester and
airports in the Canaries as well as Alicante and
Madrid.
UK-UK (+71 flights; +10%) owing to light AOs,
Emerald and easyJet. Mainly from/to
Bournemouth, Aberdeen, Bristol and Gatwick.
Sweden-Sweden (+51 flights; +19%) owing to
owing to light AOs.
Italy-Italy (+51 flights; +8%) owing to easyJet,
Wizz Air and light AOs.
Highest (slight) decrease for
Turkey-Turkey (-25 flights; -4%) mainly due
Pegasus and Turkish Airlines. From/to
Istanbul/Sabiha Gokcen and Izmir.
17
Top 10
8 of the top 10 flows are domestic.
France-France is the Country-Pair with the highest number of dep/arr flights
(1,022) followed by Spain-Spain (921),Norway-Norway (891), UK-UK (793),
Italy-Italy (714), Turkey-Turkey (634) and Germany-Germany (534).
Over 2 weeks, flows between Spain and UK increased their ranking while
flows between Germany and Spain decreased.
SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
Country pairs (Daily Departure/Arrival flights)
18
Latest traffic situation
Highest increase in flights for France-France (+10% over 2 weeks), followed by
Spain-UK (+30%)
Highest decreases for Turkey-Turkey (-4%),Germany-Netherlands (-14%) and
France-Germany (-6%).
SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
USA
Outside Europe
On 14 December, US passenger airline
departures were 16% below pre-pandemic
levels with domestic down 16%.
International flights notably improved in
November when the travel ban was lifted
and were 20% below 2019 levels until the
omicron variant led to stricter travel
measures.
The domestic US load factor was 78.9%
over the recent weeks and has fallen
below pre-pandemic levels (81.6%), partly
due to the timing of Thanksgiving in 2019.
In most recent week, average airfares on
tickets sold were 4% below pre-pandemic
levels.
19
SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
Domestic traffic in China showed some recovery over recent
weeks; flights were down -29% (8,432 flights) on 13 December (vs.
1 Jan 2020).
International traffic from and to China recorded 1,382 flights
(-66%) compared to 1 Jan 2020.
Overflights recorded 556 flights (-65%) compared to 1 Jan 2020.
Intra-Middle-East traffic recorded 2,445 daily flights on 14
December 2021 (-12% compared to Feb 2020).
International traffic from and to Middle-East recorded 2,206
flights (-27% compared to Feb 2020).
Overflights improved and recorded 447 flights (+5% compared
to Feb 2020) over the recent weeks.
Outside Europe
Middle East
China
20
SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
Airports (Daily Departure/Arrival flights)
Top 10 and latest news
21
Within the top 10, highest increases over two
weeks for:
Madrid (+55 flights; +7%) mainly due to Air
Europa and British Airwars and flows
France-Spain, domestic flows in Spain and
Spain-UK.
Amsterdam (+52 flights; +6%) mainly due to
EasyJet and KLM and many different flows.
Highest decreases for:
Munich (-52 flights; -8%) mainly due to
Lufthansa and mainly on domestic flows.
Frankfurt (-42 flights; -5%) mainly due to
Lufthansa and mainly on domestic flows,
but also flows to/from Italy and Austria.
Amsterdam is the airport with the highest number of dep/arr flights
(982) followed by Paris/CDG (975), IGA Istanbul (897), Frankfurt (863),
Madrid/Barajas (849) and London/Heathrow (839).
Over 2 weeks, IGA Istanbul, Madrid/Barajas, Barcelona and Copenhagen
increased their ranking while Frankfurt, London/Heathrow and Oslo
decreased.
SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
Airports (Daily Departure/Arrival flights)
Latest operations
Highest increases in flights for London/Gatwick (+70%), London/Luton (+20%) and
Geneva (+38%).
Highest decrease for Munich (-8%), Frankfurt (-5%) and Oslo (-5%).
Traffic levels ranging from -55% (Dusseldorf) to -9% (Palma de Mallorca), compared to
2019.
22
SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
Latest news
Airports
Aeroporti di Roma reports 1.9 million passengers in October (Fiumicino 1.5 million, Ciampino 383k) compared to 2019 numbers of 4.4 million (3.9 million and
503k); opens airport operations centre at Fiumicino.
Athens Airport reports 1.2 million passengers in November, 26.9% fewer than in 2019 (domestic 015.8%, international -31.6%).
Avinor reports 3.1 million passengers across its network in November, 25.2% fewer than in 2019 (domestic -13%, international -46%).
Copenhagen Airport reports 1.3 million passengers in November, 39.1% fewer than in 2019 (domestic -20%, international -40%).
Dublin Airport reported 1.4 million passengers in November, 38% fewer than in 2019 (domestic -5%, UK -42%, Continental Europe -28%, North America -63%,
Middle East -58%).
Finavia reports 852k passengers in November, 55.5% fewer than in 2019 (domestic -47.3%, international -58.5%).
Frankfurt Airport reports 2.9 million passengers in November, 42.8% fewer than in 2019.
Geneva Airport commences operations from its new East Wing (L’Aile Est) building, dedicated to long haul.
Hungary’s proposed acquisition of Budapest Airport will be put off until after the 2022 elections.
Kyiv Boryspil Airport plans €56 million infrastructure investment over the next two to three years, including modernisation of the cargo terminal and extension of
the apron.
London Heathrow reopens Terminal 4 as a dedicated arrivals facility for passengers from countries on the UK red list; reports 3.1 million passengers in November,
50.8% fewer than in 2019.
Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport reports 1.0 million passengers in November, 45.3% fewer than in 2019 (domestic -15%, international -46%).
SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
Vaccination updates
24
By 14 December, 31 Member States of
EUROCONTROL have reported that more than
50 people (per 100 people) were fully
vaccinated (i.e. have received 2 doses of the
main vaccines).
12 Member States have fully vaccinated more
than 70 people (per 100 people) with
Portugal, Malta and Spain having fully
vaccinated more than 80 people (per 100
people).
One Member State of EUROCONTROL has fully
vaccinated less than 20 people (per 100
people).
The graph is showing data for the 41 Member and 2 Comprehensive
Agreement States of EUROCONTROL.
*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/99 and the ICJ opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.
*
SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
En-Route Air Navigation charges
EUROCONTROL has
billed 425M€ of en-
route charges for
November flights.
This is -23% below the
amount billed for the
November 2019 flights.
On a year-to-date basis,
EUROCONTOL billed
3,714M€ which is -49%
vs 2019
25
SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
Economics
26
Jet fuel prices which
averaged 105 cts/gal in 2020
have been increasing since
then and went up to 234
cts/gal early October and
decreased to 196 cts/gal
early December in the wake
of the potential impact of the
omicron variant. Jet fuel
prices recovered to 207
cts/gal in recent week.
SUPPORTING EUROPEAN AVIATION
© EUROCONTROL - December 2021
This document is published by EUROCONTROL for information purposes. It may be copied in whole
or in part, provided that EUROCONTROL is mentioned as the source and it is not used for commercial
purposes (i.e. for financial gain). The information in this document may not be modified without
prior written permission from EUROCONTROL.
www.eurocontrol.int
To further assist you in your analysis, EUROCONTROL provides the following additional
information on a daily basis (daily updates at 7:00 CET for the first item and 12:00 CET for the
second) and every Friday for the last item:
1. EUROCONTROL Daily Traffic Variation dashboard:
www.eurocontrol.int/Economics/DailyTrafficVariation (or via the COVID-19 button on the
top of our homepage
www.eurocontrol.int)
• This dashboard provides traffic for Day+1 for all European States; for the largest airports;
for each Area Control Centre (ACC) and for the largest airline operators.
2. COVID Related-NOTAMS with Network Impact (i.e. summary of airspace restrictions):
https://www.public.nm.eurocontrol.int/PUBPORTAL/gateway/spec/index.html
• The Network Operations Portal (NOP) under “Latest News” is updated daily with a
summary table of the most significant COVID-19 NOTAMs applicable at 12.00 UTC.
3. NOP Recovery Plan.
https://www.public.nm.eurocontrol.int/PUBPORTAL/gateway/spec/index.html
• This report, updated every Friday, is a special version of the Network operation Plan
supporting aviation response to the COVID-19 Crisis. It is developed in cooperation with
the operational stakeholders ensuring a rolling outlook.
For more information please contact aviation.intelligence@eurocontrol.int
27
