Air travel in Asia, including India, continues to remain badly impacted by the covid pandemic as January traffic fell 94.6% from a year ago, virtually unchanged from the 94.4% decline registered in December 2020 compared to a year ago.
NEW DELHI : Air travel in Asia, including India, continues to remain badly impacted by the covid pandemic as January traffic fell 94.6% from a year ago, virtually unchanged from the 94.4% decline registered in December 2020 compared to a year ago.
“The region continued to suffer from the steepest traffic declines for a seventh straight month. Capacity dropped 86.5% and load factor sank 49.4 percentage points to 32.6%, by far the lowest among regions," lobby group International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in a statement.
Total passenger demand in January (measured in revenue passenger kilometres or RPKs) was down 72% compared to January 2019, worse than the 69.7% year-on-year decline recorded in December.
“2021 is starting off worse than 2020 ended and that is saying a lot. Even as vaccination programmes gather pace, new covid variants are leading governments to increase travel restrictions. The uncertainty around how long these restrictions will last also has an impact on future travel," said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO.
“Forward bookings in February for the northern hemisphere summer travel season were 78% below levels in February 2019," he added.
IATA expects the aviation industry to remain cash-negative throughout 2021 due to the pandemic. According to the industry body, estimates for cash burn in 2021 have ballooned in the $75-95 billion range from the previously anticipated $48 billion.
“It is already clear that the first half of 2021 will be worse than earlier anticipated. This is because governments have tightened travel restrictions. Forward bookings for summer (July-August) are currently 78% below levels in February 2019 (comparisons to 2020 are distorted owing to covid-19 impacts)," IATA said.
CEO de Juniac said: “This is not something the industry will be able to endure without additional relief measures from governments. Increased testing capability and vaccine distribution are key for them to unlock economic activity."
“It is critical that governments build and share their restart plans along with the benchmarks that will guide them," de Juniac added.
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