Page 5 - AAA JANUARY-MARCH 2021 Online Magazine

REPORT

Steep dramatic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on

the aviation industry. Prior to the pandemic there
were almost 30,000 unique international routes
between airports, which has now reduced by
60% to approximately 12,000 routes. This is
coupled with the fact that the density of these
Descent connections has become much thinner. Before
the crisis the average international route was
served by approximately 43 flights per month,
which has declined to 20 flights and these are
not even daily. However, Domestic air travel
has fared much better providing succour to
many carriers. While the number of domestic
REOPENING AIR TRAVEL QUICKLY AND SAFELY routes being served has remained basically
IS KEY FOR RECOVERY OF GLOBAL AIRLINES unchanged, the flights per route has reduced
FROM THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC from an average of almost 90 flights per month
to 66.

A saving grace for airlines has been the Cargo
Atul Chandra
sector, which returned to 2019 levels by
January. Air Cargo has also played a critical
The month of March marked one year, since the first COVID-19 role that air cargo is playing when delivering
briefing was held by the International Air Transport Association vaccines. Governments have realised the key
(IATA). In the 12 months since, the pandemic and related travel role played by aviation in the global economy
restrictions around the world have had a disastrous effect on the
aviation industry. According to IATA Chairman Alexandre de Juniac,
what has happened in aviation over the past 12 months has been
nothing less than catastrophic. “The scale of the decline completely
dwarfed what happened in 9.11, SARS or the global financial crisis,”
Juniac said in March. Passenger demand at the end of 2020 had
fallen 66% from pre-crisis levels back to 1998 levels, while pas-
senger revenue has fallen to 1993 levels. The work of continuing
the IATA’s efforts towards a recovery in global aviation will now fall
on his successor Willie Walsh, who takes over as IATA chief at the
end of March.

Juniac’s last briefing as IATA chief put out numbers that showed the

ASIAN AIRLINES & AEROSPACE January/March | 5