Airlines are slowly getting back to pre-pandemic schedules, and completed more flights in March 2021 than in any month since March 2020, US Department of Transportation, or DOT, data showed on May 21.
"The total number of flights operated have not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, but have increased significantly since the all-time monthly low of 180,151 flights in May 2020," DOT announced in a statement.
In March 2021, Airlines reported 467,126 scheduled domestic flights during March 2021. Of those, 5,904, or 1.3%, were canceled and 461,222 were operated.
Those figures were improvements over February 2021, which saw 350,170 scheduled domestic flights, 20,201, or 5.8%, of which were canceled, and 329,969 of which were operated.
In March 2020, at the onset of the pandemic, airlines reported 701,274 scheduled domestic flights, 118,276, or 16.9%, of which were canceled, and 582,998 of which were operated.
S&P Global Platts assessed benchmark US Gulf Coast jet fuel at an average of $1.6571/gal during March 2021. That was up from $1.6066/gal during February 2021 and 92 cents/gal during March 2020.
