In the top right corner of the chart above are what OAG chief analyst John Grant calls \u201csmart\u201d countries that have used vaccine access to spur travel and now allow carriers to offer at least 50% of their usual international seating.<\/p>\n In the bottom left are the \u201cno hopers,\u201d predominantly in Asia and Latin America, where vaccination rates are low and cross-border flights remain severely limited.<\/p>\n The bottom right quadrant shows \u201crisk-takers\u201d such as Mexico, where foreign flights have stormed back almost to pre-Covid levels even though the bulk of the population has yet to get a shot.<\/p>\n The data underscores the extent to which air travel in the Covid era remains dependent on government Covid policies.<\/p>\n The UK, for example \u2014 top left in the chart \u2014 tightened its borders to fight the delta variant, while the neighboring European Union has recovered more of its pre-pandemic tourism, despite a slower distribution of shots. A \u201cdigital passport\u201d has made it easier to move around within the bloc.<\/p>\n In Asia, the Covid Zero approach that\u2019s favored tight lockdowns over inoculation campaigns is being rethought \u2014 with Singapore dramatically ramping up its vaccine effort \u2014 but the results haven\u2019t yet resulted in a re-establishment of international connections.<\/p>\n What\u2019s happening in air travel this week<\/strong><\/p>\n The pace of the global recovery is slowing. Aviation capacity climbed less than 1 percentage point over the past week, to about 67% of 2019 levels, according to Bloomberg\u2019s weekly flight tracker, which uses OAG data to monitor the pulse of the comeback.<\/p>\n The increase was the smallest in four weeks. Europe\u2019s reopening continues to build, and the region stands at about 61% of 2019 levels, the highest it\u2019s been since the start of the pandemic. It\u2019s still too soon to say how far the progress will extend by summer\u2019s end.<\/p>\n Ryanair Holdings Plc expects to recover 80% of its pre-pandemic capacity by then, said Eddie Wilson, head of the airline group\u2019s main unit. Air travel is \u201cgradually making its way back and I think that August will really show the level of the snapback,\u201d he said this week at an online event this week staged by CAPA \u2014 Centre for Aviation.<\/p>\n The Irish carrier is Europe\u2019s biggest low-cost airline. It\u2019s made inroads in Italy, where Air Italy has shut down and bankrupt flag-carrier Alitalia SpA is being reorganized. Ryanair and smaller rival Wizz Air Holdings Plc stand to pick up more market share across the region as weaker competitors step back.<\/p>\n EasyJet Plc, which was more than double the size of Wizz at the start of the pandemic, has seen the gap shrink to almost nothing. The carrier has been held back by its reliance on its home UK market, where shifting rules and bad luck with the delta variant have stifled demand.<\/p>\n There\u2019s hope of relief come Monday, when schools let out and double-vaccinated residents will be allowed to return to England without quarantine from more than 100 medium-risk countries.<\/p>\n EasyJet Chief Executive Officer Johan Lundgren lashed out at the government on Wednesday for allowing people to go out to nightclubs in England without a mask or social distancing, while placing Spain\u2019s Balearic islands including Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza on the so-called amber list that requires a 10-day quarantine on return unless the traveler has received two vaccine doses.<\/p>\n \u201cYet again we see this double standard where travel is treated differently to the domestic economy,\u201d Lundgren said.<\/p>\n Business Travel<\/strong><\/p>\n The overlapping segments of long-distance and business travel that drive premium priced ticket sales make up a big part of the missing 33% of global capacity, and there\u2019s a strong debate on how soon and to what degree they will come back.<\/p>\n Delta Air Lines Inc CEO Ed Bastian weighed in this week as the airline reported its first quarterly profit on a pretax basis of the pandemic, boosted by government aid.<\/p>\n The US carrier expects domestic corporate travel to recover to 60% of 2019 levels by September, helping to drive a profit recovery, up from 40% in June and 20% in March. \u201cIt\u2019s accelerating just like we saw in the US with consumers,\u201d Bastian said in an interview.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/FlightBloomberg.jpg\")
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