Int'l air travel never to return to normal until 2023: IATA CEO
International air travel will need about three years to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, said Alexandre de Juniac, CEO of International Air Transport Association on, may 14.
“We've published today a fresh forecast about the potential recovery of the air traffic and what we see is that things should get back to normal in 2023,” de Juniac said. “That presents, you know, the importance and the severity of the crisis on air transport.”
He mentioned the industry would first reopen domestic markets and regional markets, such as for example Asia-Pacific, Europe or North America. By the finish of 2020, air traffic was apt to be “between 50 to 55 %” of its 2019 levels.
“We are counting on the support packages and the rescue plans that have been put together by governments,” de Juniac added.
He further mentioned that one of the primary hindrances to the recovery of flights was quarantine measures for returning travellers.
Australia has imposed mandatory two-week quarantines since late March, while Britain - which includes been ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic - said it could impose similar quarantines as part of plans for easing its lockdown.
de Juniac said Spain in addition has said its 14-day quarantine measures for arriving travellers will remain at least until May 24.
“International travel cannot re-start under such conditions,” he urged.
“In a recently available survey that people did in 11 markets, 84 % of travellers said that quarantine measures was among their top concerns, and 69 per cent essentially said that they would not go back to travel under such conditions.”
Therefore, IATA proposed measures such as for example temperature checks, health declarations and rigorous contact tracing to manage the risks of travellers spreading the coronavirus instead.
The combination of the measures, if well-implemented globally, can manage the risks, de Juniac claimed.
He also highlighted the cashflow crisis the world’s airlines are facing following mass cancellations and groundings through the outbreak, warning some might go bankrupt.
Europe’s airlines alone face needing to return about EUR 9.2 billion for cancelled flights by the finish of May.
“We asked for the overall flexibility to issue refundable vouchers - or delayed reimbursements - that would permit airlines to preserve some important cash to survive the crisis and ensure consumers will get their funds,” de Juniac said.
If the airlines go out of cash, people will eventually lose their jobs, airlines could fail and there will be negative fallout over the travel and tourism value chain. There is no public policy benefit for the reason that, concluded the CEO.
