Bizav traffic in Europe continues to reflect a huge reduction due to the Covid-19 and there are only limited signs that this will rebound, according to the latest data produced by specialist analyst WingX Advance. Bizav flights in Europe over the Easter weekend were down by some 40% over the same period two years ago. Some countries are worse hit than others and are also slowing any expectation of significant rebound. European traffic is running at 10% below 2020 levels overall. The UK, in particular, reports traffic levels 55% down on the low point at the beginning of the pandemic last year. Both French and German traffic levels are down more than 10% over 2020 levels. There are positive signs however, as traffic levels in Greece, Spain, Italy and Turkey are all in positive territory.

WingX CEO Richard Koe noted that “…the European market is sluggish, with the UK’s inactivity suggesting that regional recovery in traffic demand will not automatically result from successful vaccination programmes.”

Globally, business aviation traffic is up by 5% since the beginning of 2021 over the same period last year, whilst commercial airline traffic remains at 39% down over 2020 levels. Bizav traffic is driving the recovery in North America with business jet hours up by 15% YOY. In the latest figures, 6,100 sectors were flown last week in North America, compared to just 1,000 in Europe.