Air carriers will take long time to recover pre-pandemic levels
2023.02.06 14:47
Air carriers will take long time to recover pre-pandemic levels
By Tiffany Smith
Budrigannews.com – According to figures released on Monday by the global aviation body IATA, global airline traffic recovered to 68.5% of levels prior to the pandemic and increased 64.4% from 2021.
The COVID-19 pandemic cost airlines tens of billions of dollars in 2020 and 2021. In 2022, travel began to resume, particularly during the summer months, which signaled the first signs of relief.
The head of IATA stated that this recovery is set to continue with China’s recent reopening.
Willie Walsh, the director-general of IATA, stated, “This momentum is expected to continue in the new year, despite some governments’ overreactions to China’s reopening.”
China previously stated that, beginning on Monday, it would resume overseas group tours for Chinese citizens organized by tour operators and online travel agencies.
According to the data, European airlines saw a 133.2 percent increase in full-year traffic compared to 2021, while North American airlines saw a 133.2 percent increase year over year.
However, executives and analysts have long maintained that return to pre-pandemic levels is contingent on the speed with which travel to and from China can resume.
Walsh went on to say, “It is essential that governments learn the lesson that travel restrictions and border closures have little positive impact in terms of slowing the spread of infectious diseases in our globally interconnected world.”
The aviation industry protested when a number of nations, including France, mandated COVID testing for Chinese travelers.
According to current schedules, there may still be significantly fewer flights between Asia and Europe in 2023 than in 2019, as indicated by Cirium data; however, additional routes are being announced.
Some airline groups have stated that some routes to China will reopen in the coming months, albeit with fewer flights than before the pandemic.
KLM-Air France (PA:) announced earlier this month that, beginning in July, it would begin operating daily flights to Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing, while British Airways (L:) stated that flights between London and Shanghai would begin on April 23.
Some analysts have stated that in order for full global traffic recovery to levels of 2019 levels, growth in flights from other regions may need to pick up more to compensate for a lag in Chinese flights.
James Halstead, managing partner of the consultancy Aviation Strategy, stated, “I don’t think that China’s recovery will probably get back to levels that were in 2019 until next or the next year to Europe.”
“You’ll probably see better recovery for short-haul flights, but it will still be tentative and will depend on border controls within Asia,”
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