Flight activity in European airspace has deteriorated by more than 50% compared with the same point last year, the latest data from air navigation organisation Eurocontrol reveals.
The average daily number of flights for March 2019 reached 27,362.
But the daily figure sank below the halfway point on 18 March – when Eurocontrol recorded 13,769 flights – and the situation worsened further on 19 March when the reduction deepened to 12,670, an overall fall of 56%.
Countries being particularly hard-hit by the fall in flights, and therefore facing the impact of lost air navigation revenues, include Italy, Latvia and Moldova – all of which experienced a 87-90% traffic reduction on 19 March, the Eurocontrol data shows.
The declines for France and Spain on the same date were around 63%, while the figures for Germany and the UK were 56% and 42% respectively. Ireland was the least affected, with a fall of less than 25%.
Lufthansa’s services were down 77% on 19 March while Austrian’s were almost completely eliminated.
IAG fared better with British Airways down by 49% and Iberia by 72%, while Air France and KLM respectively fell by 60% and 55%. Ryanair suffered more than either EasyJet or Wizz Air.
