Figures show Ireland at the bottom of the table for aviation recovery

Ireland's traffic levels at less than 25% while rest of Europe hit milestone 50% level on Sunday

Mon, 21 Jun, 2021 - 14:33

Alan Healy

Ireland continues to lag behind the rest of Europe in the recovery of its aviation traffic operating less than a quarter of flights compared to the same period in 2019.

This contrasts with the rest of Europe which hit a new milestone at the weekend with flight numbers rising above 50% of 2019 levels for the first time this year as people take to the skies again for summer holidays.

Aside from a brief pickup around Christmas, the continent’s air traffic is at its highest compared with pre-Covid levels since March last year, when the continent’s lockdowns really began to affect demand.

Data from Eurocontrol show more than 18,000 flights operating across the continent on Sunday compared to just over 34,000 in 2019. On the same day, just 235 flights operated to and from Ireland compared to 910 on the same day two years previously.

The figures do show air traffic in Ireland rising steadily since early May when levels were as low as 15% but still remain at half the EU average.

Week 24 saw traffic continuing to grow steadily & reach over 50% of flights in week 24 in 2019. Friday’s peak of 19,826 flights in the @eurocontrol Network was the most since March 2020@Transport_EU @ECACceac @IATA @A4Europe @CANSOEurope @ACI_EUROPE @eraaorg @EBAAorg pic.twitter.com/hvGKAhXPxX
— Eamonn Brennan (@BrennanEN23) June 21, 2021

According to figures from Eurocontrol, France, Portugal, Greece, and Belgium are now operating flights at levels of 50% or more compared to 2019 followed closely by other large countries including Spain, Italy and Germany.

The United Kindom is also at the bottom of the table ahead of Ireland operating just under 30% of the flights it did in 2019.

While the recovery in European aviation is gathering pace, there’s still a long way to go. Even in Eurocontrol’s most optimistic scenario, the continent’s air traffic is only set to reach 79% of 2019 levels by the end of this year.

While many airlines have resumed flights from Irish airports, the Government's advice on avoiding non-essential travel remains in place until July 18.

From July 19, Ireland will operate the EU Digital Covid Certificate allowing vaccinated passengers or those who have recovered from Covid or have had a negative result to travel here from Europe, the UK or the US without having to quarantine.

Travellers from most other countries will also be allowed to travel here without having to undergo quarantine if they have proof of vaccination.

Ryanair yesterday announced that it will operate a new flight from Shannon to Turin in northern Italy for the winter ski season.

The new service will run weekly on Saturdays starting on December 18 to March 26 next year. It is the first Turin service to operate from Shannon since 2009.

Ryanair has already resumed eight of its services from Shannon operating flights to Manchester, Barcelona, Stansted, Gatwick, Kaunas, Krakow, Wroclaw and Warsaw.

Mary Considine, CEO, Shannon Group described the Turin flight as a green shoot for the aviation sector which has been devastated by the Covid-19 restrictions.

“Aviation has a long journey ahead. This is another step in slowly rebuilding our air services," she said.