3 Number of IFR flights

Release

3.1 EUROCONTROL recommended values

This section presents the evolution of flight movements in Europe (ECAC area) by flight flow, market segment¹ and aircraft type.

3.1.1 Evolution of flights per flow in Europe (ECAC) in 2022 compared to 2019

Table 3.1: Evolution of IFR flights in Europe (ECAC) 2019 vs 2022

Month	DAIO				Total		2022 traffic as % of 2019
Month	Departure	Arrival	Internal	Overflight	2022	2019	2022 traffic as % of 2019
January	55,146	55,404	414,063	14,966	539,579	787,503	69%
February	50,617	50,790	408,170	12,509	522,086	737,763	71%
March	59,017	59,201	515,945	12,293	646,456	846,442	76%
April	63,158	63,347	604,074	11,410	741,989	906,539	82%
May	70,824	71,101	695,949	13,273	851,147	985,862	86%
June	76,794	77,150	725,748	13,977	893,669	1,038,128	86%
July	87,643	87,541	759,745	15,615	950,544	1,092,562	87%
August	88,363	88,379	755,485	15,897	948,124	1,080,554	88%
September	81,483	81,577	721,100	15,117	899,277	1,034,322	87%
October	80,012	79,570	684,229	15,033	858,844	980,049	88%
November	70,939	70,868	536,747	14,772	693,326	801,961	86%
December	74,221	74,021	527,941	16,469	692,652	793,617	87%
Total	858,217	858,949	7,349,196	171,331	9,237,693	11,085,302	83%
Source: STATFOR Interactive Dashboard

Please note that the comparison between 2022 and 2019 in Table 3.1 is due to the fact that 2019 is the last year where the traffic levels were not affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing for a more realistic comparison of the flight levels.

3.1.2 Flights by market segment in Europe (ECAC) in 2022 compared to 2019

Table 3.2: Flights by market segment in Europe (ECAC) - years 2019, 2021 and 2022

Market segment	2019	Share of Total 2019	2021	Share of Total 2021	2022	Share of Total 2022
Mainline	3,991,685	36%	1,816,909	29%	2,981,880	32%
Low-cost	3,493,913	32%	1,610,239	26%	2,984,376	32%
Regional	1,643,854	15%	861,587	14%	1,219,685	13%
Business Aviation	683,473	6%	709,398	11%	791,909	9%
All-Cargo	368,362	3%	419,824	7%	389,611	4%
Other¹	372,796	3%	363,712	6%	389,396	4%
Charter	382,218	4%	303,384	5%	324,824	4%
Military	149,001	1%	145,699	2%	156,012	2%
Total	11,085,302	100%	6,230,752	100%	9,237,693	100%
Source: STATFOR Interactive Dashboard
¹ The “Other” market segment contains flights that do not fall in any of the remaining segments mentioned in the table, such as helicopter flights, etc.

In 2022 the total number of flights went up by 48% compared to 2021 but was at 83% of 2019 flight levels (pre-COVID-19). Compared with 2019, two segments increased in 2022, All-Cargo (+6%) and Business Aviation (+16%). The Mainline (-25%), Low-Cost (-15%) and Regional (-26%) segments were the most affected, along with the Charter segment which went down by -15% in 2022 (vs 2019).

3.1.3 Top 20 number of flights by civil aviation aircraft in Europe (ECAC) in 2022

Table 3.3: Top 20 flights by aircraft type in Europe (ECAC) in 2022

Aircraft Type	Flights	Proportion	Cumulative¹
B738	1,717,381	20%	20%
A320	1,417,930	16%	36%
A319	513,699	6%	42%
A20N	462,294	5%	47%
A321	371,456	4%	51%
A21N	296,722	3%	55%
B38M	270,614	3%	58%
AT76	210,778	2%	60%
E190	210,022	2%	63%
B77W	163,600	2%	64%
B789	135,989	2%	66%
A333	128,892	1%	67%
E195	124,823	1%	69%
CRJ9	112,652	1%	70%
AT75	100,619	1%	71%
DH8D	93,110	1%	72%
BCS3	90,613	1%	73%
A332	86,165	1%	74%
B788	80,654	1%	75%
A359	78,200	1%	76%
Other types	2,073,792	24%	100%
Total	8,740,005	100%	NA
Source: EUROCONTROL STATFOR
¹ Please note that the percentages in “Proportion” column are rounded, which results in cumulative values that may differ from the expectations.

In 2022, about 76% of all IFR flights in Europe were carried out by the 20 aircraft types listed in Table 3.3. Please note that the values presented in Table 3.3 focus on the civil aviation flights (i.e. excluding the military and other categories), resulting in a difference in the total flights as compared with Table 3.2 and Table 3.1.

3.1.4 Daily average of IFR flights, 2016 to 2022

Figure 3.1 shows the daily average number of IFR flights EU-wide between 2016 and 2022.

Figure 3.1: Daily average number of IFR flights [1]

3.2 When to use the input?

This input is recommended to be used in situations where an overview of the historical evolution in the number of flights is required, namely grouped according to different criteria.

3.4 References

[1]

EUROCONTROL PRU, “Reporting Period 3 - 2022 dashboard.” [Online]. Available: https://www.eurocontrol.int/prudata/dashboard/vis/2022/

The market segments are defined according to EUROCONTROL STATFOR Market Segment Rules. Please refer to the 2022 document for further details on what each segment comprises.↩︎