October continued August and September’s trend of near flat global commercial flight traffic growth with traffic still slightly more than 40% below last year’s levels. Total flight traffic continues to follow seasonal trends, though total flights remain 25% below 2019 levels.
Commercial traffic 42.4% below 2019
Commercial traffic remained 42.4% below 2019 levels in October, a slight increase from September when traffic was 43% below 2019 and August (-45.2%). Following traditional seasonal patterns, commercial traffic decreased 0.65% from September to October. For comparison, in 2019 traffic decreased 1.67% from September to October. At its worst in April, commercial traffic was down 73.7%.
View and download daily tracking statistics for total and commercial flights
Total traffic down 25.2% from 2019
Total traffic has continued to lead commercial traffic, ending October down 25.2% from 2019. Traffic in September was similarly off 25.9% from the same month last year.
What remains to be seen in November is how closely traffic will follow previous seasonal trends or if further improvements or restrictions will dramatically sway a fragile recovery.
