Europe air travel hurdles reduce unevenly as capacity grows

Jul-2020 marks a further lowering of hurdles to international air travel for Europe - but it's still messy.

The UK's exempting of a number of countries (including some long haul) from its quarantine rule initially only applied to arrivals into England, as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland pondered whether to follow suit. Restrictions on travel between the EU and some non EU countries, again some long haul, are also lifting.

According to IATA, quarantines and travel bans have similar negative impacts on flight numbers. The USA, where infections are soaring, is neither on the UK quarantine exemption list nor on the EU list of lifted bans, so the North Atlantic market remains all but closed for the peak season.

Meanwhile, Europe's total airline seat capacity is scheduled to be down by 69.3% year-on-year in the week commencing 6-Jul-2020, less than 70% for the first time during the crisis.

Africa again has the deepest cuts, down by 78.1%, followed by Latin America's 75.6% cut. Seats have been cut by 72.7% in Middle East, 57.1% in North America and 53.1% in Asia Pacific.

European aviation needs both travel restrictions and quarantines to be more widely lifted.