Unprecedented 66% drop in air passengers in 2020: IATA
Published: 11:02 AM,Feb 04,2021 | EDITED : 07:05 PM,May 02,2024
Global air passenger traffic plunged by an unprecedented 66 percent in 2020 due to travel restrictions imposed over the Covid-19 pandemic, an industry group said Wednesday.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) also warned that the emergence of new, more transmissible variants of the coronavirus were hurting the prospects for recovery this year.
Given that travel restriction applied mostly to international travel, domestic passenger traffic fared better, dropping by 49 percent, compared to 76 percent for foreign passenger traffic. The travel restrictions imposed during the first wave of the pandemic saw global passenger traffic fall to just five percent of its normal level, with airlines forced to park planes on runways because not enough space was available.
While traffic picked up during the summer, in December it was down by 70 percent, thus finishing out the year below average. IATA, which unites 190 airlines, did not formally lower its outlook for a pick up in traffic this year thanks to a rollout of vaccines but warned the emergence of new coronavirus darkened the outlook.
- International passenger demand in 2020 was 75.6% below 2019 levels. Capacity, (measured in available seat kilometers or ASKs) declined 68.1% and load factor fell 19.2 percentage points to 62.8%.
- Domestic demand in 2020 was down 48.8% compared to 2019. Capacity contracted by 35.7% and load factor dropped 17 percentage points to 66.6%.
- December 2020 total traffic was 69.7% below the same month in 2019, little improvement from the 70.4% contraction in November. Capacity was down 56.7% and load factor fell 24.6 percentage points to 57.5%.
- Bookings for future travel made in January 2021 were down 70% compared to a year ago, putting further pressure on airline cash positions and potentially impacting the timing of the expected recovery.
- IATA’s baseline forecast for 2021 is for a 50.4% improvement on 2020 demand that would bring the industry to 50.6% of 2019 levels. While this view remains unchanged, there is severe downside risk if more severe travel restrictions in response to new variants persist. Should such a scenario materialize, demand improvement could be limited to just 13% over 2020 levels, leaving the industry at 38% of 2019 levels.