The number of commercial flights in the European Union in December showed closest return to 2019 figures with a 130% year-on-year increase, but is still below the pre-pandemic levels, the European Statistical Office (Eurostat) said on Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th January, 2022) The number of commercial flights in the European Union in December showed closest return to 2019 figures with a 130% year-on-year increase, but is still below the pre-pandemic levels, the European Statistical Office (Eurostat) said on Wednesday.
"In December 2021, the number of commercial flights in the EU increased by 130% compared with December 2020. However, this is still below the pre-pandemic levels (-24% compared with December 2019)," Eurostat said.
According to the statistical office, the number of commercial flights in December 2021 was 383,720 compared with 166,990 in December 2020 and 504,270 in December 2019.
Despite the fact that the number of flights was still small in the first months of 2021, the situation changed in May, after which the air transport industry has been slowly recovering. In October, November and December, the EU reported figures closest to the pre-pandemic number of flights.
"The EU countries with the lowest decreases in commercial flights in December 2021 were Croatia (-6% compared with December 2019), Greece (-8%) and Cyprus (-9%). In contrast, flights decreased by more than 40% only in Czechia and Austria (both -41%). The rest recorded decreases of less than a third," Eurostat added.
The most significant signs of recovery compared to 2019 were reported by Greece with -29%, followed by Cyprus with -38% and Luxembourg with -39%; the lowest were in Ireland with -64%, followed by Slovenia and the Czech Republic with -62% each.
