The number of flights being operated in Europe has reached the highest level since mid-March, as a relaxation of travel restrictions allows passengers to return to the skies. A seven-day average of 16,182 departing flights took place across the continent on 12 July, up from 13,709 at the start of the month. At its lowest point this year in early February, the equivalent figure was around 5,000. Measuring activity by flight hours provides a similar snapshot. Departing services amounting to a seven-day average of 32,399 flight hours took place on 12 July, up from 28,018 on 1 July and 14,339 at the start of May – underlining a relatively rapid bounce back in services. Activity in the European Economic Area has been bolstered by the EU's digital travel pass, which allows vaccinated, tested or recovered passengers to move around the continent with relative ease. Meanwhile, flight activity has also bounced back strongly in Russia, led by domestic capacity, and despite a worsening Covid-19 situation in the country in recent weeks. Domestic flight activity has also recovered quickly in Turkey. However, restrictions on entering the UK mean that country is lagging its continental peers: passenger numbers are still below their summer 2020 peak. On 12 July a seven-day average of just 907 flights departed from the country, data shows. Although this represents a steady increase as the summer has progressed – just 315 flights departed on 1 May – the recovery in UK services was delayed by the removal of Portugal from the country's green list last month. Data additionally shows that the Airbus A320 is currently the most popular aircraft type for European operations, which continue to be dominated by short-haul services. The aircraft family accounted for 7,077 flights on 12 July, followed by the Boeing 737 with 5,047 services and Embraer E-Jets with 1,139.

Comair has voluntarily extended the suspension of its scheduled services its offers on its low-cost brand Kulula and British Airways until 31 August as South Africa continues to remain on an adjusted Level 4 lockdown for at least the next two weeks. The South African carrier says it had originally planned to resume operations from 30 July; however, it has temporarily suspended all scheduled flights from 5 July owing to the prohibition of all non-essential travel in and out of Gauteng, very little to no demand for business travel and international travel bans. The carrier also takes note of the uncertainty of the expected length of the recently adjusted level 4 lockdown and the "rampant transmissibility" of the Covid-19 "Delta" variant. The carrier intends to resume scheduled operations from 1 September after considering the potential variables. Acknowledging the opening of vaccine registration for the 35-to 49-year-old group starting 15 July, chief executive Glenn Orsmond states: "This is a crucial step towards ensuring the safety of our customers and our employees, as well as stimulating demand and the recovery of our economy and tourism industry. We anticipate the vaccine roll-out picking up pace in earnest and hope to see it reaching critical mass in the next month or two and look forward to welcoming our customers back on board on 1 September."

Thai airlines have suspended several domestic services until the end of July, amid tightened movement restrictions to combat a spike in infections in capital city Bangkok and nine neighbouring provinces. The measures include restrictions on inter-provincial travel and are in place for two weeks starting today, according to a 9 July report by state broadcasting arm National News Bureau of Thailand. Bangkok Airways has cancelled five domestic roundtrip flights from Bangkok from 13 to 31 July, to Chiang Mai, Phuket, Sukhothai, Lampang and Trat. Flights to Phuket and Koh Samui – where special travel arrangements, the ‘Phuket Sandbox’ scheme and the ‘Samui Plus’ programme, are in place – will continue to operate as usual. This includes a twice-daily Bangkok-Samui service, as well as thrice-daily special transit flights from Bangkok to Samui for vaccinated international passengers. The airline will also operate Samui-Phuket roundtrip flights from 16 July, four times a week, and from 1 August, a Samui-Singapore roundtrip service three times weekly. Meanwhile, low-cost carrier Thai AirAsia has suspended all scheduled domestic flights from today until the end of July, "in support of the [Covid-19] containment efforts by the government of Thailand"."[Asia Aviation] and Thai AirAsia will continue to evaluate the situation closely and we are prepared to reinstate our services as soon as the situation improves," the airline says in a statement today. Phuket has confirmed its second and third Covid-19 cases among tourists entering under the ‘Phuket Sandbox’ scheme, according to an 11 July update by the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office. Among local residents, the province confirmed its first case of the Delta variant and has closed schools until 23 July due to the surge in infections, according to a 11 July report by English-language newspaper Bangkok Post.