PublishedSeptember 7, 2022, 4:06 p.m.
VoyagesAir transport is back to three-quarters of its pre-Covid level
Airlines have recovered in terms of passengers, with 74.6% of the figures for July 2019. International connections remain behind compared to domestic ones.
In July, air passenger transport reached 74.6% of the July 2019 level, a rate obtained in the middle of the crucial summer season and which marks a clear acceleration compared to last June.
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Passenger air transport returned in July to three-quarters of its level in the same month of 2019, before the pandemic which ravaged the sector, the main association of airlines announced on Wednesday. More specifically, global traffic, expressed in passenger-revenue kilometers (RPK by its acronym in English, one of the sector’s benchmarks), reached “74.6% of the pre-crisis level”, underlined the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
This result, obtained in the middle of the crucial summer season, marks a clear acceleration compared to June, when the sector had recovered 70.8% of the RPK of 2019. The director general of IATA, Willie Walsh, praised the “ strong” continuation of the recovery, noting that “some markets are approaching their pre-Covid levels”.
Asia “leads” international connections
Domestic routes are doing the best, with 86.9% of 2019 RPK in July, compared to 81.4% in June, thanks to a recovery in traffic in China, following a spring marked by travel restrictions. While international connections remain down, at 67.9% of the July 2019 level, they also recorded an increase compared to June (65%). Their rate is especially weighed down by the situation in Asia, where some countries have not yet fully reopened their borders.
Confirmation of a general recovery is a “tremendous signal as we enter the traditionally calmer autumn and winter seasons in the northern hemisphere”, added Willie Walsh, recalling that the results of July had been obtained “despite reduced capacities in some parts of the world”.
Kerosene prices, a “challenge”
The beginning of the summer was marked, in Europe and the United States, by multiple delays, congestion and cancellations of flights due to shortages of personnel, whether baggage handlers, security agents or of seafarers. The sector has also experienced social movements to obtain wage increases and improved working conditions. The IATA nevertheless remains concerned regarding the prices of kerosene, which remain very high, “a challenge for the companies”, according to Willie Walsh.
For its part, the air freight sector evolved, in July, to 3.5% below the level of 2019, once morest a backdrop of falling orders, according to IATA. This part of air transport has flourished during the health crisis, thanks to the reduction in capacity and the explosion in demand, which have caused prices to jump.
(AFP)
