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Doha
Around 1.8 billion passengers flew in 2020, a decrease of 60.2 percent compared to the 4.5 billion who flew in 2019, making 2020 the worst year on record for the global airline industry, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said.
In its latest IATA World Air Transport Statistics publication for 2020, IATA reported that industry-wide air travel demand, which is measured in revenue passenger-kilometers or RPKs, dropped by 65.9 percent year-on-year. International passenger demand in 2020 decreased by 75.6 percent compared to the year prior, while domestic air passenger demand also dropped by 48.8 percent compared to 2019.
The report showed that air connectivity declined by more than half in 2020, with the number of routes connecting airports falling dramatically at the outset of the crisis, and was down more than 60 percent year-on-year in April 2020.
Total industry passenger revenues, meanwhile, fell by 69 percent to $189 billion in 2020, and net losses were recorded at $126.4 billion in total. The decline in air passengers transported in 2020 was the largest recorded since global RPKs started being tracked around 1950.
IATA Director General Willie Walsh described 2020 as a “year that we’d all like to forget.” However, he noted that analysing the performance statistics for the year reveals “an amazing story of perseverance.”
“At the depth of the crisis in April 2020, 66 percent of the world’s commercial air transport fleet was grounded as governments closed borders or imposed strict quarantines,” Walsh said.
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05/08/2021
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