Weathering the storm: How domestic air travel has provided refuge for airlines

This week, we're taking a look at some of the biggest domestic markets and how their recovery is faring. Around mid 2020, the realisation that domestic markets would lead recovery from the impacts of COVID came to the fore, particularly as country after country closed its borders to international travel. There are some markets like the US and China which pre-COVID saw the majority of capacity operate domestically and whilst international connectivity is important strategically and sometimes politically, it's not the driver of the aviation industry in those markets. For others however, like the UK - an island nation - the share of capacity that operates domestically is small and international aviation is essential for facilitating trade, tourism and other important economic activities. A year on from the beginning of the COVID crisis, we look at how resilient or otherwise the biggest domestic markets really are.