onwards and upwards22 Mar 2021 19:07
Up and Away
Global oil demand, which plunged as much as 30% during the worst of the pandemic lockdowns last March and April, is now back at about 95% of the pre-Covid high of just over 100 million barrels a day hit in 2019, according to the International Energy Agency. Together with aggressive output cuts from the OPEC+ alliance of oil exporters, that’s helped a revival in prices of more than 20% this year -- even after Thursday’s slump.
Commercial flights are back at two-thirds of comparable pre-Covid levels, the most activity since air traffic slumped a year ago, according to data from Flightradar24. In the U.S., foot traffic in airports has picked up, with a run of over 1 million daily passengers for eight straight days ending on Thursday -- something that hasn’t happened since the pandemic started.
In another indication of renewed optimism about travel, the flow of gasoline and diesel from refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast to Mexican ports accelerated from February into March as the Latin American country’s resorts prepared for an influx of tourists over spring break, according to shipping data compiled by Bloomberg.
In China, air-passenger volumes climbed to 23.9 million trips in February, nearly three times the level of a year earlier, when the initial stages of the pandemic had grounded most of the country’s jets, according to the local civil aviation administration.