IATA: More Flights Last Year than 2020 but Way Below 2019

Slightly more flights were operated last year than in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic first hit, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported in Geneva on Tuesday. The slump compared to pre-crisis levels was still huge.

Source dpa (TNS)

Jan. 26, 2022

Geneva — Slightly more flights were operated last year than in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic first hit, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported in Geneva on Tuesday.

The slump compared to pre-crisis levels was still huge, with airline passenger traffic in 2021 around 58.4 per cent lower than in 2019.

In 2020, the slump was 65.8 per cent.

International air traffic was particularly hard hit last year, with passenger traffic 75.5 per cent lower than in 2019, while domestic routes were down 28.2 per cent.

European airlines saw passenger numbers down 67.6 per cent last year compared with 2019.

Airlines again made massive cuts to their 2021 schedules. Flight capacity was 65.3 per cent lower than the year before the pandemic.

Despite the widespread coronavirus variant Omicron, passenger traffic was up recently. In November, it was still 47 per cent below pre-crisis levels, while in December the figure was 45.1 per cent.

IATA chief Willie Walsh has called on governments to abandon Covid-19 travel restrictions, saying they had been shown to be ineffective in stopping the spread of the virus.

IATA encompasses 290 airlines that together make up 83 per cent of the world's air traffic.