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We track scheduled flights (what’s planned) and tracked flights (what’s in the air) from a sample of the largest airports across the world. Looking at data up to 13 September, we find the following:
- On Sunday, there were 10,492 scheduled departures and 9205 actual take-offs, up 7.2% and 6.8% WoW, respectively. Globally, flight departures are close to their 2021 highs but remain behind 2019 levels (Chart 1).
- Across our five US airports, scheduled flights and actual flights increased 8.7% and 9.1% WoW, respectively. Actual flights for Dallas increased the most (31.5%), followed by New York (8.3%) and Chicago (5.1%) (Chart 3). Overall, there were 4,052 flight departures from our selected US airports. Capacity is at 77% of pre-COVID levels (Chart 4), with Chicago and Los Angeles highest (80%) and Atlanta lowest (72%).
- European air traffic increased over the past week – planned and actual flights were up 5.6% and 3.3% WoW, respectively. Rome and Madrid experienced the largest increases (Chart 3). In terms of capacity, Milan Bergamo remains highest (100%) and Gatwick lowest (37%). On average, European airport capacity stands at 66% of pre-COVID levels.
- Across Asian airports, planned and actual flights increased 6.6% and 6.3% WoW, respectively. The expansion is driven mainly by Shanghai and Beijing increasing the most (Charts 2 and 3). Seoul was the only reduction (-0.8%) (Chart 3). Overall capacity stands at 56% of pre-COVID levels, with Beijing highest (85%) and Singapore lowest (28%).
Information on long-term movements in flight data is available at the bottom of the page.
US
UK
Italy
Spain
Germany
France
Canada
China
Japan
Hong Kong
South Korea
Singapore
Bilal Hafeez is the CEO and Head of Research at Macro Hive. He spent over twenty years doing research at big banks – JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, and Nomura, where he had various “Global Head” roles and did FX, rates and cross-markets research.
Ben Ford is a macro research analyst at Macro Hive, and is currently finishing an MSc in Finance at Cass Business School.
(The commentary contained in the above article does not constitute an offer or a solicitation, or a recommendation to implement or liquidate an investment or to carry out any other transaction. It should not be used as a basis for any investment decision or other decision. Any investment decision should be based on appropriate professional advice specific to your needs.)