The International Air Transport Association (IATA) declared that the global airline industry may incur losses up to $200 billion, owing to the disastrous impact of COVID-19 across the globe. IATA’s Director General, Willie Walsh said that the magnitude of coronavirus pandemic on the airlines has been remarkably enormous, adversely affecting the global airline industry.

Walsh also added by saying that the airlines have tremendously reduced flight costs, making it easily available and affordable for passengers, and hence have adapted their business operations to whatever opportunities were available in these unprecedented times. He further adds by saying that the airlines are facing the deepest point of the crisis, and hence the Aviation is illustrating its resilience all over again.

IATA’s latest report for the airline industry showed considerable potential improvements, and hence the net industry losses may decline to about $11.6 billion in 2022. The net industry loss is expected to reach about $51.8 billion by the end of 2021, and hence an appreciable improvement is predicted in the following year. Net 2020 losses were incurred to about $137.7 billion. Thus, the total airline industry losses are predicted to reach $201 billion between 2020 and 2022. 

The airline industry experienced a devastating loss during the pandemic, owing to the stringent travel restrictions imposed by the government on domestic as well as international flights in order to curb the spread of the virus. Some airline companies went bankrupt, and hence ran low on disposable income to pay up their employees, pilots, and technicians. Some are still facing, and are currently on the verge of closing down all operations. 

IATA also said that the total number of passengers may reach 2.3 billion and 3.4 billion in 2021 and 2022 respectively. This number is conspicuously below the 4.5 billion travelers of 2019. Thus, the demand for flight travelling has copiously reduced. On the other hand, the air cargo business is significantly performing well, and hence the domestic travel is expected to come in close proximity with the pre-pandemic levels by the year 2022.