Global aviation fell 66 percent last year

Global aviation collapsed unprecedentedly last year due to the new coronavirus pandemic. The number of passenger-kilometers fell by almost 66% in 2020, said Brian Pearce, chief economist at the International Air Transport Association (IATA). In December, air traffic on domestic routes decreased by 70% and on international routes by 85%. IATA originally anticipated that air travel could reach about 50% of the pre-corona year of 2019 this year. "However, developments may be more negative," Pearce warned. In particular, new coronavirus mutations pose a risk. It is still too early for a new forecast, but according to current scenarios, the number of passenger-kilometers could reach only 38% of 2019 this year. "This would make matters worse in an already difficult year," said IATA chief Alexandre de Juniac. Last year, the number of passengers carried fell to 1.8 billion from 4.5 billion in 2019, IATA said in December. This means that the pandemic has erased more than 15 years of passenger growth. The last time fewer people (1.7 billion) traveled by plane on a global scale was in 2003.