Commercial airlines worldwide - fuel consumption 2005-2021

The global fuel consumption by commercial airlines increased each year since 2009 and reached an all-time high of 95 billion gallons in 2019. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the fuel consumption dropped to only 52 billion gallons in 2020.

Commercial airlines before the coronavirus pandemic

Since the deregulation of aviation industry and the expansion of global economic relations, the commercial aviation experienced a burgeoning growth trajectory over the recent decades until 2019. Globally, commercial airlines generated approximately 838 billion U.S. dollars in revenue in 2019. Passenger demand has been higher every year since 2009, while air freight traffic has seen increasing growth in recent years. This increase in air freight traffic is likely connected to the rapid growth of e-commerce; a sector expected to continue to expand for the foreseeable future.

Commercial aviation in the aftermath of COVID-19

During 2020, the aviation industry reported only 372 billion U.S. dollars in revenue. This sudden decline occurred as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. During the first half of 2020, the COVID-19 shock simply paralyzed the entire aviation industry given that countries imposed wide-spread lockdowns and shut down international travel to contain the pandemic. As more and more passenger flights remain at historically low levels, the global air cargo capacity share remains unbalanced. As of August 2020, the share of freighter capacity in the air cargo segment was approximately 78 percent. Before the COVID-19 shock, this balance between belly freight and freighter air cargo was equivalent to a balanced 50-50 share.