With 2023 wrapping up generally on a high in the aviation industry, it is time for Flight Friday to look back and see how 2023 fared when compared to 2019, and how 2024 will hopefully become the new benchmark.
Post pandemic outbreak, the two regional aircraft classes rebounded first, with domestic travel possible during 2020, whilst there were international border closures to contend with. By northern hemisphere summer schedule 2021, the regionals were both at 75% of equivalent month 2019 flight hours. However, it’s been a very different tale since that summer season ended.
Regional turboprops carried on their growth and by early 2022 had returned to equivalent month 2019 hours. The turboprops have remained above their 2019 utilization almost every month since, which is excellent news for the turboprop market, even with ATR remaining almost the single source supplier of new aircraft to this market.
The regional jets, on the other hand, remained in the 75-80% bracket of 2019 utilization, due in part to the large number of regional jets that have been removed from service, and with only the Embraer E175 as the last remaining new build aircraft entering the segment. We have seen operators, like Delta Air Lines, completely remove the 50 seat jets from their feeder networks and upgauging to aircraft with more seats.
Widebody utilization is taking the longest to return to 2019 levels and is still 5% below 2019 levels at the end of 2023. With all the international travel restrictions, and the removal of a large number of four-engine-powered widebodies during the pandemic to cut costs, the utilization return is not yet complete. However, with travel demand still high and the further return to service of more widebody aircraft alongside the continued delivery of new Airbus A330, A350, and Boeing 767F, 777F, and 787s, utilization shall surpass 2019 levels during 2024.
The narrowbody market is the heart of the aviation industry. For most of 2023, narrowbody utilization has been greater than 2019, but 2019 itself was impacted with the MAX grounding. With huge numbers of aircraft on order, and even with the issues that this market is having with the Pratt & Whitney GTF, the narrowbody market is back, here to stay, and will continue to grow from strength to strength as new markets are opened up as a result of all the enhanced capabilities the latest generation narrowbody aircraft bring to the market.
This data was put together using Aviation Week’s Tracked Aircraft Utilization tool.
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