R'sR: A spot of sunshine amidst the Covid-19 airline gloom?

Robert Boyle writes:

Spain’s beaches are once again open for business

At the end of May, Spain confirmed that it would welcome UK tourists back from the start of July and last week the UK lifted its quarantine restrictions for travellers returning from most countries in Europe, including Spain.

Spain is Britain’s biggest tourist destination and airlines are ramping up their schedules, with many Britons seemingly anxious to escape the COVID gloom and the unreliable British weather and head for the beaches.

Let’s take a data driven look at how things are going on the main London – Spain markets. My thanks go to Pablo Fernandez for assistance with data extraction and visualisations.

Airline capacity ramps up

Although airlines have begun to resume flights and capacity is being progressively increased, it remains significantly below normal levels at what would usually be peak season. For the London-Spain market, published capacity for next week is 74% below the same week last year.

Published schedules show capacity rapidly increasing in the next few weeks with capacity for the first week of August only 20% below last year. Some smaller markets show capacity almost at last year’s levels.

To read Robert’s full post, please click here.