More and more aircraft are coming back out of temporary storage. At the beginning of December, 72% of the global fleet is back in the sky, with 7.998 aircraft still grounded.

Asia and North America are still the regions with the fewest grounded aircraft relative to other parts of the world, counting both 78% (Asia) and 78% (North America) of the fleet as active. Oceania and South America are now slightly behind them, with 75% (Oceania) and 69% (South America) of their current active fleet.

Continents Active Grounded Total % active
Africa 736 560 1296 59.71%
Asia 7645 2183 9828 78.35%
Europe 3898 2773 6671 60.89%
North America 5964 1880 7844 77.62%
Oceania 578 222 800 74.54%
South America 720 380 1100 69.43%
TOTAL 19541 7998 27539 72.49%*
*January 2020 total as a reference

We understand grounded fleets do not fully represent airline activity as airlines inevitably have different utilization levels for specific aircraft.

When it comes to the TOP 10 countries with the highest percentage of active fleets, counting more than 100 registered aircraft, China leads with 93% of the active fleet with 3466 aircraft. The list is followed by Japan, Taiwan, Ethiopia, Viet Nam, New Zealand, India, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and the USA.

Country Active Grounded Total % active
China 3466 242 3708 93.47%
Japan 600 57 657 91.32%
Taiwan (Province of China) 180 19 199 90.45%
Ethiopia 97 14 111 87.39%
Viet Nam 187 31 218 85.78%
New Zealand 99 19 118 83.90%
India 589 121 710 82.96%
Saudi Arabia 207 47 254 81.50%
Mexico 250 61 311 80.39%
United States of America (the) 5056 1350 6406 78.93%

Nigeria leads the TOP10 countries’ list with the highest percentage of grounded fleets by airline and counting more than 100 registered aircraft. 69% of their fleet is grounded at the moment. They are followed by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Hong Kong, Austria, Argentina, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Germany, and the Philippines.

Country Active Grounded Total % grounded
Nigeria 32 70 102 68.63%
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the) 242 510 752 67.82%
Hong Kong 78 142 220 64.55%
Austria 83 148 231 64.07%
Argentina 38 67 105 63.81%
Malaysia 99 159 258 61.63%
Singapore 92 119 211 56.40%
South Africa 92 111 203 54.68%
Germany 247 284 531 53.48%
Philippines (the) 106 117 223 52.47%

We have also analyzed the top 25 lessors (counting more than 50 aircraft in their fleet), with the most active aircraft in their portfolio.

We use ch-aviation fleets advanced and fleets ownership data for this analysis. To get the full and detailed insights on active and inactive aircraft, visit the following LINK.