Many predicted a huge spike in aircraft retirements when COVID-19 hit. But that didn’t happen. 

This is because many operators are taking a wait-and-see position before they remove aircraft from their books, lest they be caught without enough lift to support a sudden bounce-back in demand.
 

Retirements were accelerated at the start of the pandemic, causing an initial spike in retirements in March 2020. Traditionally, more aircraft were retired towards the end of the year.