Global air passenger traffic recovery disappointing: IATA
Dec 09, 2020
Geneva [Switzerland], December 9 : The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said the recovery of passenger demand continued to be disappointingly slow in October with total demand measured in revenue passenger kilometres down 70.6 per cent compared to October 2019.
This was just a modest improvement from the 72.2 per cent year-to-year decline recorded in September. Capacity was down 59.9 per cent compared to a year ago and load factor fell 21.8 percentage points to 60.2 per cent.
International passenger demand in October was down 87.8 per cent compared to October 2019, virtually unchanged from the 88 per cent year-to-year decline recorded in September. Capacity was 76.9 per cent below previous year levels and load factor shrank 38.3 percentage points to 42.9 per cent.
Domestic demand drove what little recovery there was with October domestic traffic down 40.8 per cent compared to the prior year. This was improved from a 43 per cent year-to-year decline in September. Capacity was 29.7 per cent below 2019 levels and the load factor dropped 13.2 percentage points to 70.4 per cent.
"Fresh outbreaks of COVID-19 and governments' continued reliance on heavy-handed quarantines resulted in another catastrophic month for air travel demand," said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA's Director General and CEO.
"While the pace of recovery is faster in some regions than others, the overall picture for international travel is grim. This uneven recovery is more pronounced in domestic markets with China's domestic market having nearly recovered while most others remain deeply depressed," he said in a statement.
Asia Pacific airlines' October traffic collapsed 95.6 per cent compared to the year-ago period which was unchanged from September. The region continued to suffer from the steepest traffic declines.
Capacity plummeted 88.5 per cent and load factor sagged 49.4 percentage points to 30.3 per cent, the lowest among regions.
