Geneva (dpa) - The world's airlines are burning cash at a rate of around 418 million dollars a day, according to an estimate by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which urged governments to provide additional aid.
The IATA said on Tuesday that it expects the airline industry to rack up 77 billion dollars in losses during the second half of this year, assuming restrictions relating to the pandemic continue to curb global travel.
Since the outbreak, governments have provided 160 billion dollars to airlines, through cash injections, loan guarantees, wage subsidies and tax relief.
IATA chief Alexandre de Juniac told a press conference in Geneva that airlines normally build up cash reserves during the peak travel season around the middle of the year.
This year, however, airlines burned cash throughout this period, he said.
"And with no timetable for governments to reopen borders without travel-killing quarantines, we cannot rely on a year-end holiday season bounce to provide a bit of extra cash to tide us over until the spring," de Juniac warned.
Without further government support, 4.8 million aviation jobs are at risk, IATA warned.
The industry group repeated its call for passengers to undergo rapid testing for Covid-19 before they fly, to ensure flights are safe and to remove the need for quarantines that are keeping people from travelling.
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