EUROCONTROL’s latest Think Paper, the eighth in a series of thought-provoking papers aimed at industry leaders and policy-makers, uses exclusive EUROCONTROL aviation data to run the big numbers for 2020, providing a timely and authoritative review of the total impact of COVID-19 on flights, airlines, aircraft, airports, European
States, air navigation service providers (ANSPs), and on sustainability.
Headline impacts of a year like none other include:
- 56.2 billion losses for airlines, airports & ANSPs
- 1.7 billion fewer passengers
- 6.1 million fewer flights, 55% down on 2019
- 51% of all aircraft grounded at year-end
Looking forward, our Think Paper predicts that 2021 traffic will recover to 51% of 2019 volumes, with the recovery gathering pace from the summer onwards as vaccine rollouts take effect. And it concludes that in parallel, 2021 represents a golden opportunity to build back better European aviation by urgently tackling existing problems.