After several months of depressed air transport in Europe, thehe acceleration of vaccination against Covid-19 on the European continent is beginning to bear fruit. Better immunity cover and the travel protocols introduced by the European Union mean that restrictions have been eased. All of which benefits the airline industry.
Europe's capacity has been increased for the week of 24 May. An additional 440,000 seats in Western Europe and 140,000 in Eastern Europe.. This suggests a degree of optimism about the possibility of a good summer season. The European Union's announcement...
After several months of depressed air transport in Europe, thehe acceleration of vaccination against Covid-19 on the European continent is beginning to bear fruit. Better immunity cover and the travel protocols introduced by the European Union mean that restrictions have been eased. All of which benefits the airline industry.
Europe's capacity has been increased for the week of 24 May. An additional 440,000 seats in Western Europe and 140,000 in Eastern Europe.. This suggests a certain optimism about the possibility of a good summer season. The European Union's announcement on travel authorisation on 19 May has had its beneficial effect.
In detail, the number of seats for the week of 24 May in Western Europe rose by 6.4% compared with the previous week. This generated a total of 7.435 million seats. However, the figure remains 60% lower in January 2020. For Central and Eastern Europe, OAG registered 2.751 million seats. An increase of 5,4% compared with the week of 17 May. Looking back to January 2020, capacity is still at half-mast by 25,7%.
However, the restrictions still affecting the UK travel industry continue to weigh on the recovery in air traffic. France's decision to impose a mandatory 10-day quarantine on travellers arriving from the UK certainly doesn't help matters. Without the UK, European growth figures would certainly have been better.
Asia and the Middle East in freefall
Europe remains the only continent in the world to record truly significant growth in air capacity. The number of seats onNorth America stagnated in the week to 24 May. It rose by only 0,6% compared with the week of 17 May.
On the other hand down 2.8% in the Middle East as well as theAsia. The countries of the Indian sub-continent see the number of seats reduced by 10.3% between 17 and 24 May. North-East Asia recorded a fall of 3.2%, and South-East Asia -0.3%. The entire continent is now suffering from the impact of the Indian variant of the Covid virus. In the long term, this could prove to be a spoilsport in a summer season which, for the time being, looks more promising.
