Air travel is headed in one direction – up – which is why flight-tracking service Flightradar 24 has just logged its busiest day ever.
Flightradar24 tracks planes in real time. It monitored about 202,157 flights last Friday, 29 June 2018 – making it the busiest day it has covered in its 12-year history.
The company put out a tweet to celebrate the news, complete with graphics showing planes buzzing around the world like moths around a flame.
Yesterday was the busiest day of the year in the skies so far and our busiest day ever. 202,157 flights tracked! The first time we've tracked more than 200,000 flights in a single day on https://t.co/krDfUYSbzK pic.twitter.com/ApCMHaVEQp
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) June 30, 2018
If you prefer to avoid crowded planes and airports – here’s a tip. Flightradar24 says Thursday and Friday are the busiest days of the week. Friday is traditionally held to be the busiest, with everyone wanting to reach their destination before the weekend begins. So the busiest day was always likely to be a Friday.
Every year brings more flights and more passengers. IATA expects passenger air travel to expand by 7% in 2018, which is slower than the 8.1% growth recorded for 2017 but still faster than the 20-year average (of 5.5%) for the sixth consecutive year.
“Demand is getting a boost from stronger economic growth and the stimulus from new city-pair direct services,” IATA says.
Capacity is expected to grow by 6.7% (the same pace as in 2017). The passenger load factor is expected to be 81.7%, up a little on 2017 (81.5%). Total passenger numbers are expected to rise to 4.36 billion (up 6.5% from 4.1 billion in 2017).
Passenger yields are expected to grow by 3.2% in 2018 after a 0.8% decline in 2017. This will be the first year for strengthening yields since 2011, driven upwards by the 5.2% rise in unit costs.
Written by Peter Needham
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