Paris, Jan 12 (AFP\/APP): Airline ticket sales have fallen sharply since the end of 2021, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Wednesday, blaming governments for having “over-reacted” to the Omicron Covid variant by closing borders.<\/p>\n
IATA, which groups over 290 airlines, said international air travel had been slowly but steadily recovering from the mass shutdowns of 2020 and early 2021 before the fast-spreading Omicron strain were discovered at the end of November.<\/p>\n
Ticket sales in November were 60.5 percent below their pre-pandemic November 2019 level, marking an improvement on the 64.8 percent decline recorded a month earlier.<\/p>\n
“Unfortunately, governments over-reacted to the emergence of the Omicron variant at the close of the month and resorted to the tried-and-failed methods of border closures, excessive testing of travelers and quarantine to slow the spread,” IATA president Willie Walsh accused.<\/p>\n
As a result, he said, the industry was bracing for “a more difficult first quarter than expected.”<\/p>\n
IATA’s members account for 83 percent of global air traffic.
\nIn October, the association forecast cumulative industry losses of $11.6 billion in 2022, down from an estimated $51.8 billion in 2021 and $137.7 billion in 2020.<\/p>\n
IATA said it expected US airlines to turn profits again this year but that European carriers, which operate more long-haul flights and are therefore more exposed to border closures, would remain in the red.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Paris, Jan 12 (AFP\/APP): Airline ticket sales have fallen sharply since the end of 2021, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Wednesday, blaming governments for having “over-reacted” to the Omicron Covid variant by closing borders. IATA, which groups over 290 airlines, said international air […]<\/p>\n
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