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9.9.2021 7 INTERNATIONAL NEWS IN August, flights were back to 71% of 2019 levels across Europe. This av- erage, however, conceals a wide vari- ation between countries and also be- tween different traffic flows for each country. The graphic illustrates this variation, taking examples from some of Eu- rope's larger aviation markets. Data in March that domestic flights were holding up better during the pandemic than international flights. This summer, that trend has contin- ued. Turkey, indeed, exceeded 2019 do- mestic flight counts already in July. Then Italy beat that in August, reaching 107% of 2019, with France, Greece, Norway and Spain all at 90% or more. In the graph, German domestic flights stand out by being overtaken by other flows. International arrivals and departures include long- and short-haul, and both passenger and cargo flights. COVID-19 passenger travel restric- tions have mostly affected interna- tional passenger flights and this is re- flected in the relatively low figures for international flights (as compared to domestic ones). From the graph, UK and Norway re- main particularly weak on this flow: still less than half of 2019 levels. Key holiday destinations, on the other hand, saw a rapid recovery in July and even more in August. Overflights, not touching an airport in the country, often make a signif- icant contribution to revenues of a country's air navigation service pro- vider. The UK has the weakest overflights of these eight countries, with both Ire- land and North Atlantic, which make up most of this flow, slow to recover. Italy and Spain are much stronger, with a strong acceleration starting in July; for example, Italy picked up flights from France and Switzerland to Greece, both of which are already above 2019 counts. European recovery this summer to 70% of 2019 flights conceals wide variations EUROCONTROL Data Snapshot

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