As the borders between the European Union countries opened, European airlines began to gradually resume operations.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), initially air traffic will be restored in the domestic passenger market of the European Union.
The resumption of long-haul flights is expected in the fourth quarter of this year. According to experts' forecasts, this segment of the passenger air transport market will return to the pre-crisis level of 2019 no earlier than 2023.
According to the number of flight bookings in Europe in the first half of June, Lisbon is the leader, reports Forwardkeys, one of the world's leading travel analytics company.
The Portuguese capital is followed by Paris, Amsterdam, Athens, Rome, Madrid, Frankfurt, Vienna, Barcelona and London. But a year ago, it was the capital of Great Britain that held the palm for the number of flights booked in Europe.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, global passenger traffic in April this year decreased by 94.3% compared to the same month in 2019, according to IATA data.