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Last Week in Europe – Monday 7 March 2022

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

Last week March 7th

For the fifth week in a row, analysis of Eurocontrol data shows that the recovery rate for European flights (comparing 2022 movements with those during the same period in 2019) improved during the last seven days. The 7-day average, as of Saturday 5 March, was 74.9%, up a full 3.3 percentage points from the previous week. This improvement was achieved despite the various flight bans involving Russia and Ukraine.

Among the 12 airlines tracked in more detail in our graph, Ryanair has again achieved the best recovery rate of 106.6%. This means that the Irish ULCC is actually operating almost 7% more flights than it did in early March 2019. Iberia is still second in terms of recovery rate (at almost 87%), ahead of KLM (79%), Turkish Airlines (78%) and Wizz Air (78%).

Turkish Airlines recovery dips but is still operating to Russia

Among the 12 airlines shown in the graph, 11 showed an improvement in their recovery rates compared with a week earlier, with Turkish Airlines the only exception, possibly as a result of suspending its routes Ukraine. According to Cirium data, the Turkish flag-carrier was operating non-stop flights to seven airports in Ukraine. However, unlike most other European airlines, Turkish Airlines continues to offer flights from its Istanbul IST hub to seven Russian destinations.

British Airways showed the biggest improvement in its recovery rate from 46.0% (as of 26 February) to 58.9% (as of 5 March). The previous week had seen the airline impacted by an IT issue on 26 February which resulted in a number of flight cancellations. Vueling also showed a significant improvement from 57.5% to 68.9%.

Major European Airlines in 2021/22 to 5 Mar

Istanbul is busiest airport for flights

On Saturday 5 March the leading airline for flights in Eurocontrol airspace was Ryanair (2,267 flights), a long way ahead of easyJet (1,049), Turkish Airlines (1,027) and Lufthansa (888). Then came Air France (791), KLM (621), British Airways (534) and Wizz Air (402). Among airports, the busiest for flights were Istanbul IST (1,014), Amsterdam (949), Frankfurt (901), Paris CDG (890) and London LHR (882).

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 January?
  • Latest European airline route announcements?
  • Traffic statistics for several European airlines for February?

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