Airline In-Service Fleets Grow With Pandemic Recovery

The in-service aircraft fleet continues to gradually increase—with 22% of the current, active in-service fleet classified as parked or parked/reserve and 26% parked, by flight activity observed, according to Aviation Week Fleet Discovery. While the active global in-service fleet is increasing, it is still about 4,000 fewer than in December 2019. Aircraft retirements in the first quarter were 49% lower than the same period last year, when a big spike occurred in March 2020.