KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 4 — The international airlines passenger traffic demand recorded a decline of 75.6 per cent in 2020 compared to the previous year, said the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
It said the global passenger traffic results for 2020 showed the sharpest decline in history for revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) which fell by 65.9 per cent compared to the full year of 2019.
“Capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs) declined 68.1 per cent and load factor fell 19.2 percentage points to 62.8 per cent.
“Domestic demand in 2020 was downed 48.8 per cent compared to 2019. Capacity contracted by 35.7 per cent and load factor dropped 17 percentage points to 66.6 per cent,” it said in a statement on Thursday.
IATA director-general and chief executive officer Alexandre de Juniac said: “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.”
According to IATA, the baseline forecast for 2021 is to record 50.4 per cent improvement on 2020 demand that would bring the industry to 50.6 per cent of 2019 levels.
“While this view remains unchanged, there is a severe downside risk if more severe travel restrictions in response to new variants persist.
“Should such a scenario materialise, demand improvement could be limited to just 13 per cent over 2020 levels, leaving the industry at 38 per cent of 2019 levels,” it added.
— Bernama
