Latest developments in China’s domestic market show how we might expect future schedules to become an increasingly reliable indicator of how many aircraft will actually fly, as air travel markets around the world embark on the road to recovery.
Cirium schedule and flight status data for 2nd June reveals that just over 23% of flights originally timetabled were subsequently removed or operationally cancelled. This compares with the height of the coronavirus crisis impact on 13th February when only 1,812 scheduled flights were operated and 11,294 (86%) were removed or cancelled.
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However there is still a significant way to go towards restoring normality. In mid-January, Chinese airlines were operating close to 13,000 flights daily, with the percentage cancellation rate in the low single digits.
Looking at all scheduled services operated by Chinese airlines – including international – tracked flights remain down approximately 30% compared with a year earlier. This nonetheless compares favourably with the USA where tracked flights remain down by almost three quarters.
