The planes disappeared from the sky of Europe

The coronavirus and the restrictions associated with it have done what a volcano in Iceland failed to do 10 years ago – to minimize European air traffic.

According to Eurocontrol, which is responsible for the organization of air traffic in the EU, against the background of flight cancellations and airport closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, air traffic in Europe in March 2020 in annual terms fell by 65%.

In November 2019, Eurocontrol tracked approximately 27,000 flights daily across Europe. In January, before the pandemic hit Europe, there were 25,000 flights a day. On April 1, the organization reported 8,619 scheduled flights.

Eamon Brennan, head of Eurocontrol, said that “the situation reached a bottom” in the last 4 days of March: traffic fell by 86-88% compared to the same period in 2019.

At the end of March and the beginning of April, mainly cargo and repatriation flights were operated over Europe. Traffic in March 2020 in the skies over Europe is worse than in March 2010, when the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland erupted. 48% of European flights were cancelled in 8 days, affecting 10 million passengers.

The reduction of flights leads to the optimization or suspension of airports in Paris closed Orly airport. Heathrow Airport (London) operates at 25% capacity. Gatwick Airport has temporarily closed the northern terminal.

Frankfurt Airport lost 90% of passenger traffic and closed two terminals. In Rome, one of the two terminals of Fiumicino airport is closed.

Madrid Airport has one of four terminals. In Barcelona, traffic at El Prat Airport moved to one terminal.

Terminal D of Sheremetyevo Airport is temporarily closed in Moscow. The remaining international flights on arrival and departure from Terminal D have been transferred to Terminal F and domestic flights to Terminal B since 1 April.

Source: atorus