The International Air Transport Association (IATA), the international industry association for the aviation industry, is lowering its forecast for airlines in the coronavirus crisis.
Vaccinations are not expected to have a major effect on flying until summer at the earliest.
Airlines are expected to make losses of $118.5 billion this year and a further $38.7 billion in 2021, according to IATA's new downgraded forecast. This means losses of $157 billion (equivalent to SEK 1,350 billion) over two years.
Positive news about various vaccine candidates against covid-19 is welcomed by the IATA. However, vaccination programmes are not expected to have any effect on travel until perhaps mid-2021, according to the organisation's director-general, Alexandre de Juniac.
The number of air passengers is estimated to fall to 1.8 billion this year, down from 4.5 billion in 2019, according to the new forecast. For 2021, IATA expects some recovery, up to 2.8 billion passengers over the entire year.
IATA reiterates i In connection with its forecast, it calls on governments around the world to replace travel restrictions and quarantine regulations with more ambitious systems for testing for coronavirus.
While passenger travel has taken a nosedive during the coronavirus crisis, air cargo is a silver lining for airlines. Revenue from freight is expected to increase by 15 per cent to a total of 118 billion dollars this year.
Much of this is explained by price increases for freight as a result of large parts of aircraft being grounded by airlines during the crisis.
The total freight volume this year is expected to fall by almost 12 percent to 54.2 million tonnes.
Source: TT
