Counting down the days of the year that’s almost past, what have been the most significant events and trends in commercial aviation in 2023? What news stories marked the year? We compiled a few topics.
The trend is up
2023 will likely be the last year when the airline industry took the last pre-Covid year 2019 as a reference for how it is performing. As IATA pointed out during its Media Day in early December, global air traffic is within 2 to 2.5 percent of pre-pandemic levels. Domestic traffic is at +4.8 percent, International at -5.6 percent, but the industry’s revenues per seat kilometer (RPK) are at -1.8 percent and cargo tonne-kilometers at -2.4 percent.
Active as a journalist since 1987, with a background in newspapers, magazines, and a regional news station, Richard has been covering commercial aviation on a freelance basis since late 2016.
Richard is contributing to AirInsight since December 2018. He also writes for Airliner World, Aviation News, Piloot & Vliegtuig, and Luchtvaartnieuws Magazine. Twitter: @rschuur_aero.
