A year to forget 2020 for air transport. This is explained by Iata which provides the accounts of thedose horribilis of the pandemic, the worst since the surveys began in 1950. Last year only 1.8 billion passengers flew compared to 4.5 billion in 2019 (-60.2%). Total passenger revenue plummeted 69% to $ 189 billion in 2020 and net losses were $ 126.4 billion. The demand for air travel (measured in passenger-kilometers or RPK) decreased by 65.9% on an annual basis: the demand for international passengers fell by 75.6% compared to the previous year that of domestic passengers by 48.8 %.
Air connectivity declined by more than half in 2020, with a drastic drop in the number of routes connecting airports at the start of the crisis and dropped by more than 60% year-on-year in April 2020. transported in 2020 was the largest recorded since global RPKs started being recorded around 1950.
«2020 was a year that we would all like to forget – comments Willie Walsh, Iata’s general manager – But the analysis of the statistics on the activity during the year reveals an extraordinary story of perseverance. At the height of the crisis in April 2020, 66% of the world‘s commercial air transport fleet was blocked as governments closed borders or imposed strict quarantines. One million jobs have disappeared. And industry losses for the year totaled $ 126 billion. Many governments have recognized the critical moment in aviation and have provided funding lines and other forms of support. But it was the rapid actions of the airlines and the commitment of our people that saw the airline industry go through the most difficult year in its history ».