Commercial flights ended 2020 down 41.7% from 2019. Total flights finished the year 27% below 2019 levels. Commercial traffic continued its slow rebound in December, rising to just 36.5% below 2019 levels (-39.8% in November).
Commercial flights in 2020 down 41.7% from 2019
Commercial flights were down 41.7% overall in 2020, bottoming out in mid-April and making a moderate recovery through mid-August before the pace slowed. Helped by holiday travel at the end of the year, commercial traffic in December was only down 36.5% from 2019. Commercial traffic grew 9.2% in December over November (compared to 3.4% growth in the same period in 2019).
View and download daily tracking statistics for total and commercial flights
Total traffic down 27% in 2020
The total number of flights tracked by Flightradar24 decreased by 27% in 2020, coming in at just shy of 50 million flights for the year. December flights were down 19% below 2019 levels. The total number of flights tracked increased by 2.3% from November to December.
Ian Petchenik’s love of aviation began at an early age growing up next to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. As Flightradar24’s director of communications and co-host of the AvTalk podcast Ian now gets to share that passion for aviation with millions of Flightradar24 users and listeners around the world.
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