Global airline industry expected to report losses above $200 billion during 2020-22: IATA
In an addressal at the inaugural session of the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) 77th Annual General Meeting, Willie Walsh, Director General, IATA, said that the global airline industry might be prepared to report a loss above $200 billion during 2020-22.
Detailing in numbers, IATA stated that the collective deficit is going to fall to $11.6 billion next year in 2022 from $51.8 billion this year. “Net 2020 loss estimates have been revised to $137.7 billion (from $126.4 billion). Adding these up, total industry losses in 2020-2022 are expected to reach $201 billion,” it added.
Mr. Walsh said, “To survive airlines have dramatically cut costs and adapted their business to whatever opportunities were available. We are well past the deepest point of the crisis. While serious issues remain, the path to recovery is coming into view. Aviation is demonstrating its resilience yet again.”
“People have not lost their desire to travel as we see in solid domestic market resilience. But they are being held back from international travel by restrictions, uncertainty and complexity. More governments are seeing vaccinations as a way out of this crisis.”
The Association estimated that the industry might witness 2.3 billion passengers in 2021 and 3.4 billion in 2022. These numbers are significantly below 4.5 billion travellers in 2019, and very much similar to domestic travel
