The number of departing passenger flights from UK airports has begun to move higher as some travel restrictions for arrivals to the country have been dialled back, but services to all destinations, including approved green list countries, remain low. Data shows that the number of daily departing UK passenger flights rose to a seven-day average of 450 on 23 May, representing a slow but steady increase from a first-half 2021 low at around the start of February, when only around 200 daily departures took place. A week ago on 17 May, a seven-day average of 364 UK departures took place, highlighting that although flight numbers are increasing, the expansion remains weak and from a very low base. For comparison, on 23 May 2019, 3,098 passenger flights departed from the UK. Data shows that although flight numbers are rising to green list countries, where UK travel restrictions have been lowered, the numbers remain small. A seven-day average of just 18 passenger flights departed for Portugal on 23 May, for example, although for much of the year so far, only one service per day was operated from the UK to Portugal. On 23 May 2019, 102 passenger departure flights left the UK for the country. Of the handful of green list countries from which the British government has removed quarantine restrictions, Portugal has the largest number of direct connections with the UK. Data also shows which operators are most active in the UK currently. The largest operator by flight numbers since last November has consistently been British Airways, operating a seven-day average of 93 flights on 23 May, its highest number since late December. Loganair is currently the second largest airline by departing passenger flights, the data shows, at a seven-day average of 70 services on 23 May, its highest since late October. They are followed by EasyJet and Ryanair, which operated a seven-day average of 68 and 20 flights, respectively, on 20 May.

Oneworld's governing board has named Qatar Airways group chief executive Akbar Al Baker as new chairman of the alliance. He succeeds Qantas chief Alan Joyce in the role. "I look forward to serving as chairman of the governing board and working with our alliance partners, Oneworld CEO Rob Gurney and the Oneworld team to provide more global connectivity, a seamless travel experience and more valuable loyalty offerings for our passengers," states Al Baker. He notes that Oneworld has "continued to expand since Covid-19 emerged, with the addition of two new members in Alaska Airlines and Royal Air Maroc". Qatar Airways has "enhanced bilateral relations with fellow Oneworld members in the past 18 months", adds Al Baker, who has led the Middle Eastern carrier since its launch in 1997.

Eurocontrol projects that the number of flights in Europe will not return to 2019 levels until 2025, and possibly as late as 2029. In a four-year forecast, the air traffic manager presents three scenarios for how traffic levels will recover in the coming years. In the most optimistic scenario, the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines is largely completed in Europe this summer, allowing travel restrictions to be lifted and even some long-haul travel to return by year-end, leading to a full traffic recovery by 2024. However, under the group's main forecast, delays in the vaccine rollout and lingering travel restrictions push a full recovery back to 2025. Alternatively, persistent Covid-19 infections that flare up for several more years could delay a full traffic recovery until 2029. "The situation remains very challenging for European aviation," states Eurocontrol director general Eamonn Brennan. "We're heading into summer 2021 and most restrictions are still in place despite encouraging progress on the vaccination front. So while we are anticipating an uptick in summer traffic, our most likely medium-term scenario envisages a co-ordinated lifting of restrictions by Q1 2022 between regions, which facilitates more long-haul travel." He adds: "We'll probably have around 50% of 2019 traffic for all of 2021 (5.5 million flights). By the end of next year, traffic will only have recovered to 72% of 2019 levels, and will only get back to close to where we were pre-pandemic by 2025."
Eurocontrol has slightly increased its forecasts for its optimistic and central scenarios since its last publication in November 2020, but lowered them for its most pessimistic scenario, on the threat of lingering infections. The air traffic manager adds that the level of support provided to the aviation industry and to allow passengers to feel confident in the skies again will have a large impact on the speed of recovery. In addition, it notes that significant risks to its forecasts remain. These include the possibility of further Brexit-related disruption, economic turmoil, volatility in oil and fuel prices, as well as political change, terrorism and natural disasters.