Despite the lifting of many COVID-19 restrictions in 2022, the number of commercial flights in the EU remained below pre-pandemic levels. According to data from the avia_tf_cm dataset, the

most significant falls in the number of commercial flights were recorded in the early months of the year, with January seeing a 34% decrease compared to the same month in 2019. February, March, and April also saw significant drops of 33%, 27%, and 19%, respectively.

However, as the year progressed, the number of commercial flights in the EU began to recover, with decreases of between 14% and 16% recorded from May to December 2022. The most significant recoveries were recorded in August and October, with both months seeing a 14% decrease compared to 2019.

Among the EU member states, Greece was the only country to record more flights than in 2019, with an increase of 1%. Other countries that were close to a full recovery included Portugal (-4%), Luxembourg (-8%), and Croatia (-9%). However, some countries showed little signs of recovery, with Slovenia (-41%), Czechia (-35%), Finland (-33%), and Sweden (-31%) recording the biggest drops in the number of commercial flights.

In terms of EU airports, most were still experiencing decreases in the number of commercial flights compared to 2019. Frankfurt/Main saw the largest drop, with 131,723 fewer commercial flights in 2022 compared to 2019, a decrease of 33%. Other airports with significant drops included München (-130,715, -17%), Düsseldorf (-84,542, -33%), København/Kastrup (-60,520, -38%), and Brussels (-55,824, -45%).

Overall, the data suggests that the aviation industry in the EU is still struggling to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, with many airports and countries still seeing significant decreases in the number of commercial flights. However, there are signs of recovery, particularly in the latter half of 2022, and some countries and airports are nearing pre-pandemic levels. Photo by Björn Strey, Wikimedia commons.