Aviation industry losses set to top $200 billion by 2023: IATA

The passenger demand for 2021 is expected to touch 40% of 2019 levels after about 18 months from the point of shock

The global aviation industry losses are estimated to aggregate around $201 billion for the period 2020-2022 due to the suspension of international travel. The industry might have to see off another tough year before it could recover from the Covid-19 impact and turn profitable in 2023.

After the Covid pandemic battered the global aviation industry with losses to the tune of $138 billion in 2020, the losses for 2021 are estimated to come down to $52 billion, said William M Walsh, the Director-General of International Air Transport Association (IATA), in his statement on Monday. The loss for 2022 is expected to drop to $12 billion.

“We are past the deepest point of the crisis. While serious issues remain, the path to recovery is coming into view. Our resilience will be tested as we work together to keep aviation safe and secure, manage the risks of Covid and make aviation sustainable,” he said.

While the demand for cargo has already recovered and touched about 8% above pre-covid levels, the passenger demand is gradually reeling back from the Covid impact due to staggered relaxation of international travel restrictions and complicated vaccine cross-border rules.

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The passenger demand for 2021 is expected to touch 40 per cent of 2019 levels after about 18 months from the point of shock, reveals the data from IATA’s monthly statistics. The demand is expected to rise to 61 per cent in 2022. The recovery in passenger demand has largely been driven by domestic travel due to fewer restrictions in this regard in the majority of the countries.

Globally, the aviation industry has received about $243 billion of financial aid so far, helping it to stay afloat.

In 2021, Europe and Asia-Pacific were the worst performing regions with losses of $20.9 billion and $11.2 billion, respectively, out of the total global losses of $52 billion. North America is expected to be the only region to turn profit-making in 2022, while the other regions reduce their losses substantially.

Pandemic become the biggest and longest shock to hit the aviation sector in terms of drop the industry has seen in the global passenger-kilometres flown, overtaking other severe crises like the 9/11 terror attacks and the Great Recession, as per IATA data.

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