In total, the COVID-19 crisis will cost the global airline industry around US$201 billion, according to Iata Director General, Willie Walsh.
The new projections were released at the airline association’s AGM in Boston, USA, earlier this week.
The data showed that projected losses for 2021 were around $52 billion – a massive improvement on 2020’s $138 billion losses. For 2022, Iata expects losses to be $12 million.
Walsh said the airline industry was facing an uneven recovery from the pandemic. Regions with large domestic markets, faster vaccination roll-out and less restrictive government policies would continue to recover faster than the other parts of the world.
Africa is lagging other regions in its vaccine roll-out, which will impact international travel recovery. Airlines in the region are expected to post a $1.5 billion nett loss in 2022 on top of a $1.9 billion loss in 2021.
