Latest Eurocontrol data reveals that aircraft movements last week reached 81% of pre-pandemic levels.
The European Organization for Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol), previously predicted that aircraft movement average throughout April will be 79% of April 2019 levels.
Eurocontrol says the beginning of the Northern Hemisphere's summer flying season is seeing both legacy full service and low-cost airlines across Europe start to expand capacity.
Eurocontrol data revealed that of the week between April 7 and April 13, an average of 24,648 flights a were operated, or 81% of the number of flights recorded in the same week in April 2019.
Ryanair was the busiest airline with an average to 2,764 flights a day other the week. Easyjet came next with 1,515 daily flights operated. Third in the list is Lufthansa with 1,138 daily flights. Turkish Airlines with 1096 daily flights, and Airfrance with 901 daily flights.
Over the same week, Amsterdam Airport (AMS) was the busiest European airport with an average of 1,135 departing and arriving flights. London's Heathrow (LHR) airport followed with 1,119 departing and arriving flights per day, Paris Charles de Gaulle(CDG) with 1,111 departing and arriving flights per day, Frankfurt (FRA) with 1,076 departing and arriving flights per day, and Istanbul (IST) with 1,023 departing and arriving flights per day.
As Easter holiday season is in full swing now, Europe's busiest routes are Germany - Turkey, followed by Spain - Germany, Spain - UK, Greece - Greece, and Germany - Italy.
Ryanair is the only airline to have increased its flights compared to the same week in 2019. Ryanair's daily average of 2,764 flight last week was up 10% compared to the equivalent 2019 week. Meanwhile, easyJet's daily flight numbers were down 16% compared to the same week in 2019, while Lufthansa was down 28%, Turkish Airlines was down 15%, and Air France was down 30%.
Moving outside the top five airlines, British Airways operated an average of 709 flights a day between April 7 and April 13, down 26% compared to the same week in 2019. KLM flew a daily average of 709 flights last week, down 19% on the comparable 2019 number. Wizz operated an average of 681 flights last week, down 16% on the equivalent 2019 week. Vueling flew 603 flights a day last week, down a fraction - just 0.3%, on the same week in 2019. Finally, SAS Scandinavian operated an average of 529 flights last week, down 34% compared to the same week in 2019.
Most flights to and from European airports last week were intra-European flights, with Eurocontrol classing 20,048 (or 81% of all flights) as intra-European. The remaining 4,022 flights were intercontinental flights. Breaking down those intercontinental flights, 12% were to or from the Asia-Pacific region, nearly 26% were to or from the Middle East, 25% were to or from North America, and a further 26% were heading to or returning from Africa. But it won't surprise any aviation news follower that the amount of intercontinental flying to and from Europe remains 33% down on 2019 levels.
But the numbers suggest that flying in Europe is rebounding well, especially considering that European flying lagged much of the rest of the world throughout the pandemic. Europe now appears to be catching up.
Source: Eurocontrol