CANSO - Aireon latest ATM Traffic Analysis Report shows sustained weekly gains in air traffic globally

The latest CANSO Aireon ATM Traffic Analysis Report has just been published and is showing a continuation of weekly gains on air traffic volumes globally. The fortnightly report was released yesterday (18th June) and can be viewed here:

CANSO ATM traffic analysis report 18 June 2020

• The average number of daily flights for the weeks of 31 May and 7 June, 2020 were 48,100 and 51,100 respectively. This represents a decline of 54% from the comparable global daily average in June 2019 when over 110,000 flights operated daily but a 62% increase on the lowest daily flights average experienced in mid April.
• Average daily flight hours for the weeks of 31 May and 7 June, 2020 were 103,100 and 108,900 respectively. That remains 52% less than average global daily flight hours the year prior, when 227,000 flight hours occurred daily.

Impact on long haul traffic continues to be felt It has now been 8 weeks of small but steady increases in air traffic as international restrictions begin to lift and domestic growth occurs.

Globally, the decline of daily flights reached its most severe at -70% of 2019 volumes in mid-April. After 8 weeks of sustained growth the industry remains -54% of 2019 volumes. It is clear that global traffic volumes that fell precipitously over a period of a few weeks in March will take much longer to return.

Looking at the numbers of aircraft operating daily provides a more encouraging sign. Global surveillance data shows that for the week of 7 June 2020 31,900 unique aircraft were operating daily. This suggests that aircraft operators are bringing aircraft back into service and that over 8000 aircraft that had ceased operating for a period in April are back in the skies.

However, the erosion of long-haul international flights has had a significant impact on traffic. In early January 2020, aircraft that were operating on a daily basis flew an average of 6 hours per day each. In early June, aircraft were operating an average of 3.4 hours daily.