This chart shows how global air travel is faring

Dec 15, 2022

With the collaboration of Statista.

Air travel has picked up this year following COVID-19 disruptions in 2020 and 2021. Image: Unsplash/Avery Cocozziello

Felix Richter

Data Journalist, Statista

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Air travel has picked up this year following COVID-19 disruptions in 2020 and 2021.
However, weekly seat capacity on commercial passenger airlines is still some way below 2019 levels.
There are also regional differences in how airlines have recovered following the pandemic.

As international travel was brought to an abrupt halt in 2020 at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the aviation industry suffered “the worst year in history for air travel demand”. While 2021 was still mired by travel restrictions, turbulence gradually eased in 2022 as more and more passengers returned to the skies.

According to data from OAG, weekly seat capacity on commercial passenger airlines averaged 90.7 million so far this year, up from 61 million during the same period in 2020 but still some way below the 2019 level of 110.9 million. The gap is gradually closing, however, and global capacity exceeded 100 million for the first time since the pandemic hit for a couple of weeks this summer.

There are significant regional differences in how far passenger airlines have recovered from the Covid-19 shock. While capacity remains far below pre-pandemic levels in large parts of Asia, especially in terms of international flights, capacity in North America is very close to 2019 levels.

Global Air Travel Is Approaching Cruising Altitude Image: OAG

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What is the World Economic Forum doing to reduce aviation's carbon footprint?

As other sectors proceed to decarbonize, the aviation sector could account for a much higher share of global greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century than its 2%-3% share today.

Sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) can reduce the life-cycle carbon footprint of aviation fuel by up to 80%, but they currently make up less than 0.1% of total aviation fuel consumption. Enabling a shift from fossil fuels to SAFs will require a significant increase in production, which is a costly investment.

The Forum’s Clean Skies for Tomorrow (CST) Coalition is a global initiative driving the transition to sustainable aviation fuels as part of the aviation industry’s ambitious efforts to achieve carbon-neutral flying.

The coalition brings together government leaders, climate experts and CEOs from aviation, energy, finance and other sectors who agree on the urgent need to help the aviation industry reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The coalition aims to advance the commercial scale of viable production of sustainable low-carbon aviation fuels (bio and synthetic) for broad adoption in the industry by 2030. Initiatives include a mechanism for aggregating demand for carbon-neutral flying, a co-investment vehicle and geographically specific value-chain industry blueprints.

Learn more about the Clean Skies for Tomorrow Coalition's impact and contact us to find out how you can get involved.

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