BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 20
By Sadraddin Aghjayev – Trend:
The passenger traffic of the world's airlines decreased by 60 percent due to quarantine restrictions imposed by countries amid the coronavirus pandemic, Trend reports citing the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
The United Nations Civil Aviation Agency has confirmed that international passenger traffic has dropped sharply by 60 percent since 2020, bringing total air traffic back to 2003 levels, the report said.
As reported, 1.8 billion people were transported in this way during 2020, compared with 4.5 billion in 2019.
“The largest decline was recorded in the field of international air transportation. While the number of passengers on domestic flights fell by 50 percent, in international transport, the decline was 74 percent,” the report said.
A possible improvement in the global picture can be expected in the second quarter of 2021, but in any case, this will depend on the effectiveness of managing the pandemic and the introduction of vaccinations.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) forecasted previously that financial losses of the world's airlines for 2020 and 2021 will total $157 billion.
Updated data for June 2020, predicted airline losses of $118.5 billion for 2020 and another $38.7 billion by mid-2021.