Business flights recovering to pre-Covid levels

While the Covid-19 pandemic continues to cast a shadow over the aviation industry, our data shows that business flights have already made a strong comeback.

Looking at the total business traffic in recent weeks, it is clear that the situation has almost returned to normal globally:

This indicates that it is commercial and cargo traffic that has been seriously diminished by the ongoing health situation. It seems that most business travellers have already made the decision to return to their normal flights and pre-Covid activity.

It's also interesting to examine this area demographically. Firstly, US domestic business travel is down slightly on the same period last year:

But business flights to destinations outside of the US are actually up on the figures from 2019:

This is despite the fact that traffic to Europe has yet to reach its pre-Covid levels:

The situation is mirrored in Europe, where both domestic business flights:

And flights from Europe to overseas destinations:

Have both exceeded what would usually be expected at this time of year.

Canadian domestic business flights are also up year-on-year:

Although its international business traffic has yet to recover from the ongoing Covid pandemic:

International traffic from China has also increased quite significantly over last year's figures:

While Australia, a country that has been very restrictive when dealing with the Covid pandemic, has seen a slight fall in international business traffic:

What this indicates is that people are generally willing to fly if the situation is important enough, and if restrictions make it possible. There is still some debate over the appropriate measures to take with commercial flights, with many prominent figures from within the airline industry suggesting that the authorities must do something to address a cataclysmic situation for carriers.

For example, The Times of London quoted a senior British Airways executive, who was extremely grave about the current situation for aviation. I don’t want to sound dramatic, but the scale of this disaster is horrifying. We’re watching an industry implode.” Leaders at EasyJet and Emirates have been among the other voices warning of the carnage in the airline industry, and calling for a loosening of restrictions.

Conversely, the risk of the spread of Covid via air travel is obviously quite high, and many governments still believe that stringent measures must be taken in order to safeguard the public health recovery. Many countries are still requiring passengers to quarantine after travelling overseas, as Covid cases shows signs of spiking in some territories. However, this is having a massively detrimental impact on tourism, with few people willing or able to be quarantined for 14 days after taking a vacation.

This dichotomy, debate and discord between the two parties is likely to continue for some months, while the world adjusts itself to post-Covid normality.