Swedish internet-based service Flightradar24 has released its much-anticipated air traffic statistics for the month of March.
The data details a historic slump in flights as pandemic-inspired travel restrictions and demand drops continued.
Year-on-year, the website shows in pictures how commercial flights dropped 27.7 per cent and total flights 21.6 per cent for March.
The total number of flights tracked overall by the website were 4,294,685 for the month.
Tracking March’s historic drop in air traffic.https://t.co/fX97HeTJmz pic.twitter.com/rqppQuRz28
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) April 2, 2020
Domestic and international flights first began to grind to a halt in the third week of January, as air traffic in China took a 75 per cent hit.
According to the website, “After falling more than 80 per cent by mid-February, in the final week of February into the first week in March, traffic in China recovered to 40 per cent of normal.”
However, the World of Aviation reported earlier this week that cargo traffic in the country has bounced back to pre-outbreak levels over the course of March.
This and other factors, including repatriation flights and efforts to transport much-needed medical supplies around the world, have helped ease the burden on total flight numbers.
Europe has been particularly hard-hit in the latter half of March, as COVID-19 cases began to mount in countries outside of Italy.
Data released on commercial air traffic paints a grim picture over recent weeks. This has come as “over 100 airlines have now either completely or nearly completely stopped service”, and many countries stepped up measures to discourage international arrivals.
“In the first week of March, commercial traffic was down 3.9 per cent below 2019 levels,” said Flightrader24. “In the final week of March, commercial traffic declined 62.9 per cent from the same period in 2019.
“In the first week of March, total global traffic was still up 4.5 per cent compared to 2019. In the final week of March, total flights tracked by Flightradar24 were 55.7 per cent fewer than in 2019.”
