Asia | China | Economics & Growth | Europe | Global | US
We track scheduled flights (what’s planned) and tracked flights (what took off) from a sample of the largest airports across the world.
Where Are the Chinese and Thai Flying?1
Our latest China Growth Tracker shows that a vast majority of the reopening is simply Chinese flights returning. However, we have collected the latest ADS-B and Mode S data2 to track whether these flights are leaving the country.
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We track scheduled flights (what’s planned) and tracked flights (what took off) from a sample of the largest airports across the world.
Where Are the Chinese and Thai Flying?1
Our latest China Growth Tracker shows that a vast majority of the reopening is simply Chinese flights returning. However, we have collected the latest ADS-B and Mode S data2 to track whether these flights are leaving the country.
We found that there are roughly half the number of international departures from China, and roughly 40% of departures to Thailand, versus 2019 (Chart 1).
Meanwhile, international departures from Thailand have nearly recovered to pre-Covid levels (Chart 2). However, these departures are yet to return to China like they did before, likely reflecting lower incoming Chinese traffic. This should increase with looser restrictions.
Global Departure Update
Looking at data up to 24 April 2023:
- Average global departures have soared above 120,000 per day, up from 114,000 two weeks ago and just 5,000 shy of 2019 summer highs (Chart 2).
- European departures stalled this week (-0.1% WoW), with London Gatwick (-2.4%) seeing some hangover following Easter half-term vacations. Other European airports saw a similar change.
- Asia (-0.3%) and the US (-1.7%) saw departures tick lower, too.
Information on long-term movements in flight data is available below.
[1] – Please reach out should you want any further details or any other countries’ flight details inspecting.
[2] – ADS-B and Mode S data is an unofficial source of data that picks up the signals of planes along their journey. This means there may well be discrepancies between our data and those officially produced, though it is a good indication.