Statistics released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has showed that global passenger traffic was down by 72 per cent, when compared to the same period in January 2019, pre-Covid-19 pandemic period.
The traffic was also worse than the 69.7 per cent year-over-year decline recorded in December 2020.
IATA also said that African airlines’ traffic dropped 66.1 per cent in January, which was a modest improvement compared to a 68.8 per cent decline recorded in December versus year ago.
Besides, the January capacity for the continent contracted 54.2 per cent versus January 2019, and load factor fell 18.4 percentage points to 52.3 per cent.
A statement by Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director-General, said that 2021 and 2020 monthly results were distorted by the extraordinary impact of COVID-19 on the operations of airline operators around the world.
Total domestic demand was down 47.4 per cent versus pre-crisis (January 2019) levels. In December it was down 42.9 per cent on the previous year.
This weakening is largely driven by stricter domestic travel controls in China over the Lunar New Year holiday period.
International passenger demand in January was 85.6 per cent below January 2019, a further drop compared to the 85.3 per cent year-to-year decline recorded in December.
“2021 is starting off worse than 2020 ended and that is saying a lot. Even as vaccination programs gather pace, new COVID variants are leading governments to increase travel restrictions. The uncertainty around how long these restrictions will last also has an impact on future travel.
“Forward bookings in February this year for the Northern Hemisphere summer travel season was 78% below levels in February 2019,” said de Juniac said.
Asia-Pacific airlines’ January traffic plummeted 94.6 per cent compared to the 2019 period, virtually unchanged from the 94.4 per cent decline registered for December 2020 compared to a year ago.
The region continued to suffer from the steepest traffic declines for a seventh consecutive month. Capacity dropped 86.5 per cent and load factor sank 49.4 percentage points to 32.6 per cent, by far the lowest among regions.
European carriers had an 83.2 per cent decline in traffic in January versus January 2019, worsened from an 82.6 per cent decline in December compared to the same month in 2019.
Capacity sank 73.6 per cent and load factor fell by 29.2 percentage points to 51.4 per cent.
Middle Eastern airlines saw demand plunge 82.3 per cent in January compared to January 2019, which was broadly unchanged from an 82.6 per cent demand drop in December versus a year ago. Capacity fell 67.6 per cent, and load factor declined 33.9 percentage points to 40.8 per cent.
North American carriers’ January traffic fell 79 per cent compared to the 2019 period, up slightly from a 79.5 per cent decline in December year to year. Capacity sagged 60.5 per cent, and load factor dropped 37.8 percentage points to 42.9 per cent.
