European flights again exceeded Eurocontrol’s best-case scenario in August

The number of flights operated in European airspace exceeded Eurocontrol’s best-case scenario for the second month running in August. At 71% of pre-crisis levels, flights were two percentage points ahead of the best-case scenario, which was forecast by the European air traffic manager on 1 June. Eurocontrol director general Eamonn Brennan describes the data as “a good outcome”, adding that he hopes “it continues to improve”. The best-case – or “optimistic” – scenario was based on countries relaxing restrictions sooner than expected, prompting traffic to rise much more steeply in the June-July period. Its base-case scenario was that flights would reach 57% of pre-crisis levels during August. In the week ending 29 August, Eurocontrol data shows that Ryanair was by far the busiest airline, with its average of 2,318 flights per day just 12% down on pre-crisis levels. Turkish Airlines was next in the list, operating 1,322 flights per day, followed by EasyJet (1,186), Air France (899) and Lufthansa mainline (812).<br/>