Let’s take a look at the air transport fleet’s current active and stored/parked status. As we reach mid-November, ~61% of the fleet is in service, and 39% parked. The regional situation continues to diverge. COVID fatigue in the US has helped domestic travel recover, and ~64% of the fleet is active. The bright light continues to be China, where domestic travel has staged a remarkable recovery resulting in ~84% of the fleet in service. Many European countries are in a renewed lockdown, and consequently, the European fleet has the worst active fleet % of any region (only ~50% active). Remember, even if the aircraft are active, they are often flying reduced hours/cycles, and load factors are still lower.
Looking at just the parked/stored fleet in terms of the aircraft size, ~51% of stored aircraft are narrowbodies with widebodies making up 19%, Turboprops, and RJs the remaining 30%.
Moving forward to the rest of the year, we should closely watch Thanksgiving and the Christmas travel period. It’s typically a busy time for passengers and Air Cargo. However, with COVID cases rising in the US, how much of a dent this will have on Thanksgiving travel remains to be seen.
Industry Insights
More News
Date: September 03 , 2025 |
Naveo’s Richard Brown is Moderating MRO Asia’s Panel on Talent Retention & Recruitment in Aviation |
The air transport fleet in the Asia Pacific region is huge. There are~6,200 aircraft (17% of the global fleet) flying with Asia Pacific operators, and a further ~4,500 aircraft (12% of the global fleet) with operators... |
READ MORE  |
Date: September 03 , 2025 |
Naveo’s Richard Brown is Chairing the Predictive Aircraft Maintenance Conference in Singapore |
I’m excited to be chairing the inaugural Asia Pacific edition of the Predictive Aircraft Maintenance (PAM) Conference in Singapore on 15–16 September to be held at Marina Bay Sands. It's happening on Monday and Tue... |
| READ MORE |
Date: September 03 , 2025 |
Naveo Aircraft Retirements Update: Young A320neo Family Aircraft Are Already Being Retired |
You may have heard that recently, two A321neo aircraft powered by Pratt & Whitney GTF engines had been purchased to be torn down, their engines and parts reclaimed to support the existing A320neo fleet. Both aircr... |
| READ MORE |