The growth of commercial air traffic has stalled for the first time in twelve weeks, according to data from Flightradar24. Since July 18th, the number of commercial flights has remained at 63,000 per day.
Since the low point in late April, when some 28,000 commercial flights were operated daily, the aviation sector has steadily been recovering. First in Asia, where the virus was under control first, and later in Europe and North America.
That the growth has now stalled is not because the aviation industry has fully recovered. Before the corona crisis, there were over 100,000 commercial flights every day, so despite the growth in recent months, only slightly more than half of the regular flights have been resumed.
As airlines are resuming most of their routes, the frequency often stays behind. This is mostly because of the lack of passengers. Intercontinental flights also don’t recover as fast as short- or medium haul flights, mostly because of the international travel restrictions.