How is the coronavirus affecting global air traffic?

Since countries around the world have gone into lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid-19, flight and passenger numbers have made a steep downward plunge. But not all planes are grounded. Story looks at the available data to find out who is still flying. An analysis of Flightradar24 data showed that the number of aircraft transmitting location information and reporting an altitude of more than 50ft had dropped by more than half last week compared to a typical March week last year. Flightradar24 doesn’t record all commercial flights and conversely it tracks some non-commercial aircraft, but the numbers are in line with other data sources. Travel data provider OAG reported that the number of scheduled flights this week is down 48% compared to the same week last year. Their figures show the number of scheduled flights has gradually declined since the beginning of March when only 8% of flights had been cancelled. Despite far-reaching travel restrictions in many countries, thousands of flights are still taking off from airports every day. The main reason thousands of planes remain in the air is that governments have been reluctant to restrict domestic air travel.<br/>