Boeing reported 76 total orders for new aircraft during the first quarter despite cancellations, surpassing Airbus in quarterly sales of commercial jets for the first time since 2019 as airlines plan their fleets amid the tenuous recovery of travel demand. Orders for Airbus fell to negative 61 aircraft during the first quarter following cancellations by Norwegian in February. Airbus took orders for 28 narrowbodies during March, including 20 A220-300s, four A320neos and four A321neos. It took no orders for aircraft during January. Boeing during March logged cancellations for 156 737 Max aircraft, which were offset by orders for 196 new 737 type aircraft. Cancellations during March include Turkish Airlines removing 50 orders for Max jets. New orders during March included 100 Max 7 jets ordered by Southwest Airlines. The European airframer still has a larger backlog of orders compared with its US-based rival and maintained its lead in deliveries of aircraft to operators. Airbus delivered 125 aircraft from January through March, while Boeing delivered 77 jets during the first quarter. New aircraft sales slumped during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and carriers cancelled numerous orders, but Airbus has fared better than Boeing during this crisis, in part because of the grounding of Max aircraft in March 2019. The order backlog for Airbus at the end of January was 7,163 aircraft, while Boeing ended January with a backlog of 4,016 orders. Airlines in the USA have reported increased bookings for summer months amid momentum of vaccination. The US Federal Aviation Administration removed its grounding of Max aircraft in November and in the months since then other nations have set standards to modify the aircraft, allowing it to fly again. Airbus will report its first-quarter earnings on 29 April. Boeing will report its quarterly earnings on 28 April.

Passenger numbers at London Heathrow were down 83% year on year in March, the UK airport has disclosed. The figure came in at just 542,000 as the pandemic and the national lockdown continued to restrict travel. In the first three months of the year, Heathrow saw just 1.68 million passengers, a drop of 89% from the first quarter of 2020. The UK is set to start easing travel restrictions from 17 May, but testing requirements have dismayed the travel industry, with airlines arguing that the proposals represented a further setback for the sector. Cargo movements in March increased 21% compared with last year, although volumes were down 26%, Heathrow says in its monthly traffic report. IATA said earlier this month that global air cargo demand had grown in February while capacity remained limited as airlines continued to cut back on passenger flights and the resulting belly capacity. "This makes cargo yields a bright spot in an otherwise bleak industry situation," IATA director general Willie Walsh stated on 7 April.

Nearly half of European corporate travellers expect to cut down or stop taking business flights altogether once Covid-19 travel restrictions are lifted, according to pollster YouGov. Survey data indicates that 40% of business travellers expect to take fewer corporate flights compared with pre-pandemic, while 5% believe they will stop travelling for work completely. Improvements to video-conferencing technology are the key driver behind the decision, the data suggests, with 42% of respondents saying it will allow them to cut back on business flights. The data also implies many business travellers do not believe corporate trips enhance their ability to do their jobs. Some 55% of travellers said that the inability to travel for work because of Covid-19 had had no impact on their productivity, while 19% said it had improved it. Just 26% said it had harmed their productivity. The data was compiled from an online survey by YouGov of corporate travellers across Europe, and was commissioned by the European Climate Foundation. Although the results indicate that corporate travel may show a tepid recovery from the pandemic, airlines can also take comfort from findings that many travellers are eager to return to the skies. Thirty-eight percent of respondents said they would return to roughly the same level of business travel as before the pandemic, while 13% said it would increase. The YouGov data shows clear support for stronger environmental measures by governments to reduce aviation emissions, including higher taxes on airlines. Fifty-one percent agree, for example, that governments should end aviation's free allowances of CO2 credits under the EU's emissions trading scheme, while 42% said taxes should be raised on the aviation sector in order to shift business to lower-carbon supply chains. Just 28% of respondents opposed this. Of those respondents who said they would travel less frequently post-pandemic, around half said they would be prepared to put the money saved towards paying more per flight to use sustainable aviation fuels.