Flight Friday: Asia-Pacific, The Last Frontier Of Post-COVID Recovery

With Aviation Week's upcoming MRO Australasia in Brisbane, Australia, this week’s Flight Friday examines how the Asia-Pacific region and Australia are performing compared to 2019.

The Asia-Pacific region is the only global area that has not yet returned to 2019 levels. The recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic has been slow compared to other parts of the world, as some areas in Asia-Pacific remained closed or had travel restrictions for a much longer period.

The region continues to depend on China to increase flight utilization, and the end of China’s zero-COVID-19 policy in late 2022 significantly benefited operators, allowing them to resume flights into mainland China. February 2024 marked the only time the Asia-Pacific region recorded more flights than in the same month of 2019. However, it’s worth noting that February 2024 was a leap year, which means it had an extra day’s worth of flights.

In contrast, Australia has consistently maintained a flight utilization rate that meets or slightly exceeds the levels of 2019 since May 2023. The country began to resume travel after COVID-19 relatively quickly, reaching 90% of 2019 levels by May 2021. However, a strong second wave of COVID-19 led to numerous local and regional lockdowns, which negatively impacted the utilization profile.

In late 2021, Australian airlines began a trend of recovery that allowed them to reach and surpass the levels seen in 2019. However, this journey has not been without challenges. While the current fleet size is nearly the same as it was before the pandemic, several operators have entered and exited the market. For example, Bonza Airline has come and gone, and Regional Express (REX) faced difficulties with the Boeing 737-800, ultimately leading to voluntary administration. Additionally, Boeing 717 aircraft were removed from Australian service. On a positive note, operators like Alliance Airlines have experienced growth and modernized their fleets.

This data was put together using Aviation Week’s Tracked Aircraft Utilization tool.