Airline, Organisations & Operators,

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced full-year global passenger traffic results for 2020 showing that demand (revenue passenger kilometres) fell by 66 per cent compared to the full year of 2019.
This is by far the sharpest traffic decline in aviation history.
Furthermore, forward bookings have been falling sharply since late December.
According to IATA figures, international passenger demand in 2020 was 76 per cent below 2019 levels.
Capacity, (measured in available seat kilometres) declined 68 per cent and load factors fell 19 percentage points to 63 per cent.

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Domestic demand in 2020 was down 49 per cent compared to 2019.
Capacity contracted by 36 per cent and load factor dropped 17 percentage points to 67 per cent in the domestic market.
December total traffic was 69.7 per cent below the same month in 2019, little improved from the 70.4 per cent contraction in November.
Capacity was down 57 per cent and load factor fell 24.6 percentage points to 57 per cent.
Bookings for future travel made in January were down 70 per cent compared to a year-ago, putting further pressure on airline cash positions and potentially impacting the timing of the expected recovery.
“Last year was a catastrophe – there is no other way to describe it.
“What recovery there was over the Northern hemisphere summer season stalled in autumn and the situation turned dramatically worse over the year-end holiday season, as more severe travel restrictions were imposed in the face of new outbreaks and new strains of Covid-19,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA director general.
The IATA baseline forecast for 2021 is for a 50 per cent improvement on 2020 demand that would bring the industry to 50.6 per cent of 2019 levels.
While this view remains unchanged, there is a severe downside risk if more severe travel restrictions in response to new variants persist.
Should such a scenario materialise, demand improvement could be limited to just 13 per cent over 2020 levels, leaving the industry at 38 per cent of 2019 levels.
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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has urged all branches of the European Union to support an initiative from Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, to agree a common digital European Covid-19 vaccination certificate.
It is hoped the digital document would enable those who are vaccinated to travel freely within Europe without testing.
In an open letter to Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, IATA chief executive, Alexandre de Juniac, called on EU dates to coordinate a policy that would see the region safely gain the economic and social benefits of renewed freedom of movement.
”Prime minister Mitsotakis’ initiative should be urgently adopted by the commission and all member states.
“Vaccination is a fundamental key to safely reopening borders and stimulating economic recovery.

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“A pan-European mutually recognised vaccination certificate would be an important step towards giving governments the confidence to safely open their borders, and passengers the confidence to fly without the barrier of quarantine,” said de Juniac.
The Greek proposal is for a harmonised vaccination certificate that could contribute “to the re-establishment of mobility on a global scale, which is the foundation for re-establishing economic activity to pre-crisis levels”.
As the virus comes eventually under control, testing capacities improve and the vaccinated population grows, de Juniac stressed the need for governments to prepare for re-establishing the freedom of movement with well-coordinated planning.
That planning should use the most effective combination of vaccination and testing capabilities.
“We are in very dark days of this pandemic.
“But the tough measures taken combined with accelerating vaccination programs must give us hope that we can safely re-establish the freedom of movement.
“That will save jobs, ease mental anguish, re-connect families and revive the economy.
“To do this safely and efficiently, planning is key,” said de Juniac.
The EU heads of state meet tomorrow and Mitsotakis’ proposal will be on the agenda.
Image: Sipa USA/SIPA USA/PA Images
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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced that the slow recovery in passenger demand came to a halt in November.
A moderate return had been slowing in place since the summer travel season in the northern hemisphere came to an end.
Total demand (measured in revenue passenger kilometres or RPKs) was down 70 per cent compared to November 2019, virtually unchanged from the 70 per cent year-to-year decline recorded in October.
November capacity was 58 per cent below previous year levels and load factor fell 23 percentage points to 58 per cent, which was a record low for the month.
International passenger demand in November was 88 per cent below November 2019, slightly worse than the 88 per cent year-to-year decline recorded in October.

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Capacity fell 77 per cent below previous year levels, and load factor dropped 39 percentage points to 41 per cent.
Europe was the main driver of the weakness as new lockdowns weighed on travel demand.
Recovery in domestic demand, which had been the relative bright spot, also stalled, with November domestic traffic down 41 per cent compared to the prior year (it stood at 41 per cent below the previous year’s level in October).
Capacity was 27 per cent down on 2019 levels and the load factor dropped 16 percentage points to 67 per cent.
“The already tepid recovery in air travel demand came to a full stop in November.
“That’s because governments responded to new outbreaks with even more severe travel restrictions and quarantine measures. 
“This is clearly inefficient.
“Such measures increase hardship for millions.
“Vaccines offer the long-term solution. In the meantime, testing is the best way that we see to stop the spread of the virus and start the economic recovery.
“How much more anguish do people need to go through—job losses, mental stress—before governments will understand that?” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA chief executive.
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Figures from the International Air Transport Association have confirmed that passenger demand in September remained highly depressed.
Total demand (measured in revenue passenger kilometres or RPKs) was 73 per cent below September 2019 levels.
This is only a slightly improvement over the 75 per cent year-to-year decline recorded in August.
Capacity was down 63 per cent compared to a year ago and load factor fell 22 percentage points to 60 per cent.
International passenger demand in September plunged 89 per cent compared to September 2019, basically unchanged from the 88.5 per cent decline recorded in August.
Capacity plummeted 79 per cent, and load factor withered 38 percentage points to 43 per cent.

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Domestic demand in September was down 43 per cent compared to the previous year, improved from a 51 per cent decline in August.
Compared to 2019, capacity fell by a third and the load factor dropped 12 percentage points to 70 per cent.
“We have hit a wall in the industry’s recovery.
“A resurgence in Covid-19 outbreaks – particularly in Europe and the US – combined with governments’ reliance on the blunt instrument of quarantine in the absence of globally aligned testing regimes, has halted momentum toward re-opening borders to travel.
“Although domestic markets are doing better, this is primarily owing to improvements in China and Russia.
“And domestic traffic represents just a bit more than a third of total traffic, so it is not enough to sustain a general recovery,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA director general.
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Airports Council International (ACI) World and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have reinforced an urgent call for governments to use testing as a means to safely re-open borders and re-establish global connectivity.
The organisations argue the move it necessary to prevent the systemic collapse of the aviation industry.
There have also been calls for further non-debt generating financial support for the sector.
The dual measures would protect countries from the importation of Covid-19 cases, avert an employment crisis in the travel and tourism sector, and ensure that the critical aviation structure remains viable and able to support the economic and social benefits on which the world relies.
Alexandre de Juniac, IATA director general, said: “We need action quickly. Large parts of the global air network have been severely ruptured for well over a half year.

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“Job losses—inside and outside the industry – mount with each day that borders are closed.
“And with each job lost the recovery and impact on the broader economy becomes even more difficult.
“Momentum is building in support of testing to re-open borders.
“It is the top operational priority. And to make sure that we have a viable aviation sector at the end of this crisis a second round of financial relief is unavoidable.”
The Air Transport Action Group (ATAG) estimates that 46 million jobs are at risk because of the loss of connectivity caused by the Covid-19 crisis.
The vast majority of these (41.2 million jobs) are in the travel and tourism sector which relies on aviation.
The remainder (4.8 million jobs) are spread across direct employment in aviation, including airports and airlines.
The viability of the airline sector to support employment is being challenged by the severe and prolonged fall in business:
ACI estimates the airport industry will suffer a 60 per cent reduction in revenues, reaching an unprecedented loss of $104 billion.
IATA estimates that airline revenues will be down at least 50 per cent, falling to $419 billion compared to $838 billion in 2019.
Safely re-opening borders without quarantine by using a coordinated approach to testing would boost the entire economy and be a revenue lifeline for airlines and airports.
ACI and IATA have called on the ICAO Council Aviation Recovery Task Force to provide an internationally agreed and recognised approach to testing that can be adopted at a national level.
“The Covid-19 pandemic remains an existential crisis and airports, airlines and their commercial partners need direct and swift financial assistance to protect essential operations and jobs,” ACI World director general, Luis Felipe de Oliveira, said.
“But such assistance is only one piece of the puzzle as the industry restarts and prepares to sustain continuing operations focused on the health and welfare of travellers, staff, and the public.
“ACI and IATA are aligned in calling for urgent government action to introduce widespread and coordinated testing of passengers to enable quarantine requirements to be removed.
“Without this action, it is not an exaggeration that the industry is facing collapse.”
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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has sought to demonstrate the low incidence of in-flight Covid-19 transmission with an updated tally of published cases.
Since the start of 2020 there have been 44 cases of Covid-19 reported in which transmission is thought to have been associated with a flight journey (inclusive of confirmed, probable and potential cases).
Over the same period some 1.2 billion passengers have travelled.
“The risk of a passenger contracting Covid-19 while onboard appears very low.

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“With only 44 identified potential cases of flight-related transmission among 1.2 billion travellers, that’s one case for every 27 million travellers.
“We recognise that this may be an underestimate but even if 90 per cent of the cases were un-reported, it would be one case for every 2.7 million travellers.
“We think these figures are extremely reassuring. 
“Furthermore, the vast majority of published cases occurred before the wearing of face coverings inflight became widespread,” said David Powell, IATA medical advisor.
New insight into why the numbers are so low has come from the joint publication by Airbus, Boeing and Embraer of separate computational fluid dynamics research conducted by each manufacturer in their aircraft.
While methodologies differed slightly, each detailed simulation confirmed that aircraft airflow systems do control the movement of particles in the cabin, limiting the spread of viruses. Data from the simulations yielded similar results:
Aircraft airflow systems, High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters, the natural barrier of the seatback, the downward flow of air, and high rates of air exchange efficiently reduce the risk of disease transmission on board in normal times.
The addition of mask-wearing amid pandemic concerns adds a further and significant extra layer of protection, which makes being seated in close proximity in an aircraft cabin safer than most other indoor environments.
IATA’s data collection, and the results of the separate simulations, align with the low numbers reported in a recently published peer-reviewed study by Freedman and Wilder-Smith in the Journal of Travel Medicine.
Although there is no way to establish an exact tally of possible flight-associated cases, IATA’s outreach to airlines and public health authorities combined with a thorough review of available literature has not yielded any indication that onboard transmission is in any way common or widespread.
Further, the Freedman/Wilder-Smith study points to the efficacy of mask-wearing in further reducing risk.
“ICAO’s comprehensive guidance for safe air travel amid the Covid-19 crisis relies on multiple layers of protection, which involve the airports as well as the aircraft.
“Mask-wearing is one of the most visible.
“But managed queuing, contactless processing, reduced movement in the cabin, and simplified onboard services are among the multiple measures the aviation industry is taking to keep flying safe.
“And this is on top of the fact that airflow systems are designed to avoid the spread of disease with high air flow rates and air exchange rates, and highly effective filtration of any recycled air,” concluded Powell.
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