COVID’s Impact on Airlines — A Flight Volume Analysis of 50 Top Airlines!

COVID’s Impact on Airlines — A Flight Volume Analysis of 50 Top Airlines!

It’s been more than 18 months since COVID has hit the world. After a devastating year for airlines in 2020, many carriers try to return to a normal level. We wanted to know the details and analyzed the traffic volume of 50 top global airlines. Therefore, we compared each airline’s number of flights in June 2021 to the traffic level in June 2019.

Here’s what’s contained in detail:

• 1 – List of Airlines With More Flights Than Pre-COVID
• 2 – List of Airlines With More Than 90% of Flights Compared to Pre-COVID
• 3 – List of Airlines With 80% – 90% of Flights Compared to Pre-COVID
• 4 – List of Airlines With 70% – 80% of Flights Compared to Pre-COVID
• 5 – List of Airlines With 60% – 70% of Flights Compared to Pre-COVID
• 6 – List of Airlines With 50% – 60% of Flights Compared to Pre-COVID
• 7 – List of Airlines With 40% – 50% of Flights Compared to Pre-COVID
• 8 – List of Airlines With Less Than 30% of Flights Compared to Pre-COVID

List of Airlines With More Flights Than Pre-COVID

Out of 50 analyzed airlines, ten carriers managed to operate more flights in June 2021 than in pre-COVID time. Russia’s Pobeda definitely showed the most impressive performance. Compared to June 2019, Pobeda increased its flight volume by more than 54%. Ural Airlines is the second Russian airline among the top list. The Russian carrier increased its flight volume by almost 34%.

Moreover, three airlines from the United States managed to grow their flight volume compared to their pre-COVID level: Allegiant Air, Frontier Airlines, and Cape Air. Besides that, Mexico’s Vivaareobus operated almost 34% more flights. On top of that, it seems that U.S. airlines did a very good job: Allegiant, Frontier, and Cape Air operated more flights than in pre-COVID time.

IATA	Airline	No. Flights June ’21	No. Flights June ‘19	Difference
DP	Pobeda	7,894	5,124	54.1
VB	Vivaaerobus	8,305	6,201	33.9
U6	Ural Airlines	6,749	5,502	22.7
ID	Batik Air	9,733	8,373	16.2
G4	Allegiant Air	12,525	11,080	13.0
F9	Frontier Airlines	13,449	12,149	10.7
Y4	Volaris	12,701	11,601	9.5
KC	Air Astana	4,009	3,830	4.7
9K	Cape Air	9,608	9,266	3.7
MF	Xiamen Airlines	19,777	19,408	1.9

List of Airlines With More Than 90% of Flights Compared to Pre-COVID

The following table contains airlines that are already pretty close to their pre-COVID flight volume level. With Go Air, China Eastern Airlines, and Air China, three out of seven airlines are based in Asia. However, even more, interesting to see that another two Russian airlines are on the list. Norwegian carrier Wiederoe represents the first European airline that is close to its pre-COVID flight volume.

IATA	Airline	No. Flights June ’21	No. Flights June ‘19	Difference
G8	Go Air	8,051	8,260	2.5
MU	China Eastern Airlines	64,000	66,074	3.1
CA	Air China	39,243	41,342	5.1
WF	Wideroe’s	8,910	9,398	5.2
NK	Spirit Airlines	18,685	19,947	6.3
UT	UTair	6,728	7,207	6.6
S7	S7 Airlines	12,609	13,764	8.4

List of Airlines With 80% – 90% of Flights Compared to Pre-COVID

The traffic volume of the below airlines is 10% – 20% short compared to pre-COVID flight volume. Nevertheless, it is amazing to see that American Airlines and Southwest Airlines are already playing in that league and operated more than 100,000 flights in June. Moreover, airlines from the United States again show a powerful performance.

IATA	Airline	No. Flights June ’21	No. Flights June ‘19	Difference
AA	American Airlines	173,464	203,582	14.8
WN	Southwest Airlines	100,689	118,372	14.9
ZH	Shenzhen Airlines	18,454	21,709	15.0
NZ	Air New Zealand	12,355	14,709	16.0
AS	Alaska Airlines	33,862	40,333	16.0
ZL	Regional Express	5,055	6,053	16.5
QG	Citilink	8,100	10,075	19.6
B6	JetBlue	25,060	31,193	19.7

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List of Airlines With 70% – 80% of Flights Compared to Pre-COVID

The following table contains airlines that are at a 70% to 80% pre-COVID traffic level. In that case, we have a mixed picture of airlines from South America, Africa, North America, Europe, and Asia. With Air France, we have the first major European airline on this list.

IATA	Airline	No. Flights June ’21	No. Flights June ‘19	Difference
JQ	Jetstar Airways	7,510	9,562	21.5
JT	Lion Air	12,644	16,225	22.1
AF	Air France	22,565	29,216	22.8
PC	Pegasus	12,012	15,567	22.8
DL	Delta Air Lines	129,989	171,638	24.3
SU	Aeroflot	23,877	31,650	24.6
OA	Olympic Air	4,804	6,390	24.8
ET	Ethiopian Airlines	7,489	10,118	25.9
AD	Azul	17,233	23,354	26.2
AM	Aeromexico	12,713	17,251	26.3
HU	Hainan Airlines	17,167	23,585	27.2
HA	Hawaiian Airlines	6,035	8,374	27.9
QF	Qantas Airways	15,835	22,136	28.5
7C	Jeju Airlines	4,858	6,918	29.8

List of Airlines With 60% – 70% of Flights Compared to Pre-COVID

The below-shown airlines are hit considerably hard. Accordingly, their flight volume is between 30% and 40% below their pre-COVID level. Interesting to see that United Airlines shows the weakest performance of the big U.S. carriers.

IATA	Airline	No. Flights June ’21	No. Flights June ‘19	Difference
V7	Volotea	4,911	7,200	31.8
UA	United Airlines	106,801	162,135	34.1
SV	Saudi Arabian Airlines	12,264	18,762	34.6
XY	flynas	3,732	5,736	34.9
W6	Wizz Air	11,441	17,670	35.3
QR	Qatar Airways	9,738	15,163	35.8
TK	Turkish Airlines	26,174	42,283	38.1
XQ	SunExpress	3,398	5,602	39.3

List of Airlines With 50% – 60% of Flights Compared to Pre-COVID

With the worsening impact, the number of European airlines increases and U.S. airlines decrease. Iberia, KLM, and Ryanair are still almost 50% behind their pre-COVID level. Same accounts for Latin’s big players, such as Copa or LATAM.

IATA	Airline	No. Flights June ’21	No. Flights June ‘19	Difference
JL	Japan Airlines	14,418	24,839	42.0
VA	Virgin Australia	7,741	13,360	42.1
IW	Wings Air	6,400	11,236	43.0
IB	Iberia	10,393	18,532	43.9
KL	KLM	12,708	22,697	44.0
LA	LATAM	20,094	37,422	46.3
CM	Copa Airlines	5,333	10,141	47.4
FR	Ryanair	38,355	73,328	47.7
NH	All Nippon Airways	19,446	37,482	48.1
MS	Egyptair	3,621	7,087	48.9

List of Airlines With 40% – 50% of Flights Compared to Pre-COVID

The below airlines operated less than half of their pre-COVID flight volume. Although we have a mixed filled, European and Middle East airlines dominate the list.

IATA	Airline	No. Flights June ’21	No. Flights June ‘19	Difference
FZ	flydubai	3,033	6,083	50.1
X3	TUIfly	1,883	3,792	50.3
AV	Avianca	10,089	21,334	52.7
RJ	Royal Jordanian	1,546	3,270	52.7
VY	Vueling	10,100	21,406	52.8
A3	Aegean Airlines	2,267	4,883	53.6
HV	Transavia	2,565	5,600	54.2
TP	TAP Air Portugal	5,126	11,926	57.0
LO	LOT Polish Airlines	4,677	11,073	57.8
6E	IndiGo	17,669	42,052	58.0
G3	GOL	8,206	19,671	58.3

List of Airlines With 30% – 40% of Flights Compared to Pre-COVID

And now it’s getting really worse. The below airlines are between 60% – 70% down from their pre-COVID levels. And sad to see so many big players among the list: Emirates, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, or SAS.

IATA	Airline	No. Flights June ’21	No. Flights June ‘19	Difference
SG	SpiceJet	6,688	16,806	60.2
OZ	Asiana	3,201	8,314	61.5
AI	Air India	5,750	15,052	61.8
GF	Gulf Air	1,766	4,630	61.9
EK	Emirates	5,629	15,812	64.4
AZ	Alitalia	6,177	17,673	65.0
LH	Lufthansa	16,088	46,690	65.5
EY	Etihad Airways	2,539	7,446	65.9
SQ	Singapore Airlines	2,618	7,743	66.2
GA	Garuda Indonesia	4,496	13,346	66.3
OS	Austrian Airlines	4,344	13,038	66.7
LY	El Al	963	2,965	67.5
SK	SAS	7,660	25,359	69.8

List of Airlines With Less Than 30% of Flights Compared to Pre-COVID

Now we reached the bottom. The below airlines operate only 30% or less of their pre-COVID flight volume.

IATA	Airline	No. Flight June ’21	No. Flights June ’19	Difference
KE	Korean Air	3,933	13,318	70.5
G9	Air Arabia	1,710	5,792	70.5
LX	Swiss Air Lines	3,915	13,544	71.1
CX	Cathay Pacific	1,998	8,292	75.9
VN	Vietnam Airlines	3,110	13,032	76.1
EW	Eurowings	5,246	22,145	76.3
PR	Philippine Airlines	2,420	10,395	76.7
KU	Kuwait Airways	621	2,709	77.1
U2	Easyjet	12,310	55,999	78.0
BA	British Airways	6,714	31,948	79.0
AY	Finnair	2,304	11,137	79.3
DY	Norwegian	2,176	10,778	79.8
5J	Cebu Pacific	1,814	9,371	80.6
MH	Malaysia Airlines	2,291	12,041	81.0
WS	WestJet	3,904	20,741	81.2
AC	Air Canada	8,615	47,680	81.9
EI	Aer Lingus	1,504	9,858	84.7
WY	Oman Air	825	6,203	86.7

Used Data

The shown information is based on OAG data and internal data sources. Rankings only included airlines that operated more than 500 flights in the respective month. However, the global benchmark includes all tracked flights. On average, 280 airlines are included in each month’s analysis. Whenever stated, EMEA refers to airlines based in Europe, the Middle East, or Africa.

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