The coronavirus pandemic has caused the number of airline passengers to drop by 60% in the world in 2020 and the short-term outlook remains bleak, the United Nations specialized agency warned on Friday.
Read also: The interminable descent into hell of the airlines
With travel restrictions around the world in an attempt to curb the pandemic, the number of passengers, which reached 1.8 billion in 2020, has fallen back to 2003 levels, far from 4.5 billion in 2019, said the 'International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in a statement.
"The decline in demand"
will continue for the current quarter and could even worsen, warns the agency, based in Montreal.
In 2020, the drop in passenger numbers reached 50% on domestic flights, but 74% on international flights, which carried 1.4 billion fewer people than in 2019.
The result: the companies suffered cumulative losses of US $ 370 billion.
Airports and air navigation service providers have suffered losses of $ 115 billion and $ 13 billion, respectively.
A situation which, according to ICAO,
“calls into question the financial viability of the industry and threatens millions of jobs around the world”
.
Fall of the tourism industry
The global tourism market is also hit hard, since half of tourists are used to taking the plane to reach their destination.
The recovery of the industry, possible in the second quarter, depends on the success of the vaccination, which began in rich countries, according to the agency.
Several governments have also rushed to the aid of the companies, or are about to do so.
The industry's fall began in January 2020, but was then limited to a few countries.
At the end of March, with the spread of the new coronavirus, the industry was practically at a standstill everywhere in the world, recalls the ICAO.
In April, the drop in the number of passengers was 92% compared to 2019. Traffic picked up moderately during the summer in northern countries, but fell again from September with the arrival of the second wave of the pandemic and the return of restrictions around the world.
ICAO notes overall that domestic flights have resisted restrictions better than international flights, especially in China and Russia where passenger numbers have already returned to pre-pandemic levels.
