Global air transport returned 94.1% of its 2019 passenger traffic last year, continuing its
“strong rebound”
after the pandemic, the main airline organization announced on Wednesday, welcoming
“good news”
.
Calculated in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK), aircraft attendance reached 98.4% of the levels of the corresponding period four years earlier in the fourth quarter, reflecting a
“strong recovery”
at the end of the year. , noted the International Air Transport Association (Iata).
Border closures and other travel restrictions from March 2020 had devastating effects on passenger air travel, which fell that year to 34.2% of 2019 levels, according to Iata.
The recovery took time: 41.6% in 2021 then 68.5% in 2022.
“The strong rebound after the pandemic continued in 2023
,” noted Iata Director General Willie Walsh, quoted in a press release from the association.
According to him, this augurs a
“return to normal growth models in 2024. The renewed health of the travel sector constitutes good news”
.
Interior lines
Activity was once again driven by domestic lines, which in 2023 reached 103.9% of their 2019 RPK, according to Iata.
The trend accelerated with the end of movement restrictions in China, after three years of harsh policies.
Attendance on air routes within the Asian giant has exploded by 138.9% between 2022 and 2023, reaching 107.1% of 2019 levels, noted Iata in its monthly delivery of statistics.
Other major national markets that were more active last year than in 2019 include India (105.3%) and the United States (103.3%).
On the other hand, international connections have not yet recovered, evolving in 2023 at 88.6% of 2019 activity despite strong growth over one year (+41.6%), according to Iata which brings together some 320 airlines totaling 83% of global air traffic.
Rotations to and from Asia-Pacific weighed on the trend, at 72.7% of 2019 activity levels, as airlines struggled to rebuild networks wiped out during Covid-19.
The beams between North America and the rest of the world, however, reached 101.4% of pre-crisis traffic levels, better than rotations to and from Africa (90.7%), Europe (93%), Latin America (94.2%) and the Middle East (98%).