“The industry left 2022 in far stronger shape than it entered,” reports IATA
This week, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) released their report on passenger demand recovery for the final month of 2022. The results show that air travel recovery continued through December, concluding a solid year of progress for the industry.
IATA’s Director General, Willie Walsh said:
“The industry left 2022 in far stronger shape than it entered, as most governments lifted COVID-19 travel restrictions during the year and people took advantage of the restoration of their freedom to travel.”
The figures showed the following progress towards pre-pandemic (2019) levels across the entire year.
- Total traffic in 2022 reached 68.5 per cent of 2019 levels.
- International traffic reached 62.2 per cent of 2019 levels.
- Domestic traffic reached 79.6 per cent of 2019 levels.
Looking specifically at the final month of the year highlights the differing rates of recovery across the measured traffic.
- Total traffic in December 2022 rose 39.7 per cent compared to December 2021, reaching 76.9 per cent of December 2019 level.
- International traffic increased 80.2 per cent in December 2022 versus December 2021, reaching 75.1 per cent of December 2019 level.
- Domestic traffic rose 2.6 per cent over the previous year and reached 79.9 per cent of December 2019 traffic.
Promisingly, Asia-Pacific airlines showed a 363.3 per cent rise in full year international traffic compared to 2021 finding itself to have, “the strongest ever year-over-year rate among the regions.”
Noting that the industry had a promising resurgence in 2022, Willie Walsh cautioned against travel restrictions and border closures as a response to the spread of disease.
Article by Jess Brownlow
