Air traffic across Europe was up 7% in July compared with the same month last year, new data from European air traffic control agency Eurocontrol shows.
In total, there were over 1 million flights during the month, the first time this milestone has been reached since September 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.
This was despite the extreme weather that gripped much of the continent during the month.
However, air traffic delays related to weather during the period were over two and a half times that recorded in the same month a year ago, Eurocontrol said.
Air traffic flow management delays per flight due to weather in July were 1.7 minutes on average, up from 0.7 minutes in July 2022.
Thunderstorms in particular made life difficult for airlines and airports, especially in Germany, Hungary and Serbia.
Frankfurt, Gatwick and Munich were the airports most impacted.
When the effects of weather were stripped out though, delays per flight were down by almost a quarter year on year to 2.5 minutes.
Arrival punctuality came in at 63.6% during the month, up from 61.6% in July 2022.
