Flight Friday: Global Domestic Aircraft Usage Tops Pre-COVID Levels For First Time
Credit: Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images
This week's #FlightFriday brings us more good news!
For the first time since the pandemic started, domestic hours have exceeded the equivalent month in 2019. Buoyed by China’s reversal of its zero-COVID policy, combined with the Lunar New Year, global domestic travel in January 2023 was 1% higher than January 2019.
International travel still lags the equivalent month in 2019. However, it has recovered to its highest level since the coronavirus outbreak, and now sits at 82.5% of the equivalent month in 2019.
Combined numbers show that overall hours are at 91% of January 2019.
This data was put together using Aviation Week’s Tracked Aircraft Utilization tool.
