Air traffic down by 60% in pandemic
23:33
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the past year was the worst for the civil aviation industry in its history. The air transport market has shrunk by as much as 60 percent. and fell to the level it was 17 years ago. According to ICAO, in 2020 airlines carried only 1.8 billion passengers worldwide.
"Only", because a year earlier it was as many as 4.5 billion people. Moreover, the last time the airlines carried the same number of passengers as in 2020 in 2003, that is before the low-cost carrier market grew.
The enormous restriction of air traffic took great losses for the airlines. ICAO estimated them at $370 billion. The industry hit its biggest trough in April when in many parts of the world (e.g. Europe) there was an almost total ban on passenger flights. The months that followed brought little rebound, but the summer season also turned out to be disastrous for the tourism industry, and leisure travelers usually accounted for a large number of passengers during this period.
The fall and the second wave of the pandemic reduced air traffic again, and the emergence of new, potentially more infectious strains of the coronavirus, led to the closure of some transport routes.
Due to the appearance of the British variant of SARS-CoV-2, many countries have introduced bans on passenger flights to the UK. Many countries have reacted similarly after discovering the South African variant of the pathogen – flights to South Africa are suspended. In recent days, after the appearance of another new mutation of the coronavirus – in Brazil – the United Kingdom has suspended air communication with this country, as well as with Portugal and African Cape Verde Islands, and many South American countries.
