The pandemic has changed how we fly, dramatically reducing the number of flights around the world. To show how Covid-19 has altered the skies, The Wall Street Journal analyzed flight data from aviation data provider Cirium Core for a 24-hour period—Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. That was a month after the new coronavirus forced Wuhan, China, into lockdown and a week after Italy ordered Europe’s first lockdowns. It was still before other big countries initiated lockdowns and travel bans to slow the spread.
Below is the same 24-hour period a year later, on Friday, Feb. 26, 2021. At big airline hubs, such as New York, London, Dubai and Singapore, possible destinations have fallen sharply. Many routes still in operation are serviced by far fewer flights a day.
