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Last Week in Europe – Monday 28 March 2022

Posted on | Airlines, Airports, Europe, News & Analysis, Top Story

Last week 28th March

Last week saw an improvement in the rate of airline recovery based on analysis of Eurocontrol data. The 7-day average recovery rate for European flights (comparing 2022 movements with those during the same period in 2019) as of Saturday 26 March, was 75.1%, up 1.1 percentage point from the previous week’s figure of 74.0%. A return to less unseasonal weather in Turkey contributed to this improvement

Among the 12 airlines tracked in more detail in our graph, Ryanair has again achieved the best recovery rate of 110.3%. This means that the Irish ULCC is actually operating 10% more flights than it did in late March 2019. Wizz Air is again second in terms of recovery rate (at just under 95%), ahead of Iberia (85%) and Turkish Airlines (81%).

Turkish Airlines recovery rate back above 80%

Among the 12 airlines shown in the graph, eight showed an improvement in their recovery rates compared with a week earlier. The exceptions were Iberia (which fell from 85.9% to 85.0%), Air France (from 72.3% to 71.6%), British Airways (from 63.7% to 63.3%) and Norwegian (from 35.6% to 35.2%). The biggest improvements came from Turkish Airlines (from 75.8% to 81.2%) and Wizz Air (from 93.1% to 94.7%). This is the first time Turkish Airlines is above 80% since the end of February.

Major European airlines in 2021/22 to 26th March 22

Istanbul IST (just) back on top among airports

On Saturday 26 March the leading airline for flights in Eurocontrol airspace was Ryanair (2,301 flights), a long way ahead of easyJet (1,079), Turkish Airlines (1,044) and Lufthansa (885). Then came Air France (793), KLM (638), British Airways (551) and Wizz Air (506). Among airports, the busiest for flights were Istanbul IST (982), Amsterdam (979), Frankfurt (948), Paris CDG (927), London LHR (899) and Madrid (798).

Yesterday (Sunday 27 March) saw the start of the summer 2022 (S22) season which is likely to result in some interesting developments in next week’s data.

Want more information on:

  • European seat capacity changes made since last week for March, April and May?
  • New routes launched in Europe during the last seven days?
  • Latest airport passenger statistics for European airports for February?

If so, then check out our weekly Last Week in Europe report which can be downloaded here.