Annual passenger demand for Middle East airline slumped by nearly 73 percent in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic decimated the global aviation industry.
According to new figures from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), passenger demand was 72.9 percent below 2019.
IATA also said that annual capacity fell 63.9 percent and load factor dropped 18.9 percent to 57.3 percent.
December’s traffic was down 82.6 percent compared to December 2019, improved from an 86.1 percent drop in November as the UK temporarily set up a travel corridor with the UAE.
The UAE has since been added to a ‘red list’ of countries where direct flights between the two countries have been suspended until further notice amid fears about new strains of the virus.
Globally, IATA said that passenger demand fell by 65.9 percent compared to the full year of 2019, by far the sharpest traffic decline in aviation history. Furthermore, forward bookings have been falling sharply since late December.
International passenger demand in 2020 was 75.6 percent below 2019 levels while domestic demand in 2020 fared better although was still 48.8 percent down on the previous year.
December total traffic was 69.7 percent below the same month in 2019, little improved from the 70.4 percent contraction in November.Bookings for future travel made in January were down 70 percent 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 percent improvement on 2020 demand that would bring the industry to 50.6 percent of 2019 levels. However it warned that if more severe travel restrictions in response to new variants persist, demand improvement could be limited to just 13 percent over 2020 levels, leaving the industry at 38 percent of 2019 levels.
“Last year was a catastrophe. There is no other way to describe it. What recovery there was over the northern hemisphere summer season stalled in autumn and the situation turned dramatically worse over the year-end holiday season, as more severe travel restrictions were imposed in the face of new outbreaks and new strains of COVID-19.” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO.
“Optimism that the arrival and initial distribution of vaccines would lead to a prompt and orderly restoration in global air travel have been dashed in the face of new outbreaks and new mutations of the disease. The world is more locked down today than at virtually any point in the past 12 months and passengers face a bewildering array of rapidly changing and globally uncoordinated travel restrictions.
“We urge governments to work with industry to develop the standards for vaccination, testing, and validation that will enable governments to have confidence that borders can reopen and international air travel can resume once the virus threat has been neutralised,” he added.
Last month, Emirates and Etihad Airways said they had partnered with IATA to become among the first airlines in the world to trial a new app to help passengers manage their travel amid ongoing Covid-19 restrictions.
IATA Travel Pass enables passengers to create a ‘digital passport’ to verify their pre-travel test or vaccination meets the requirements of the destination.
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