COVID-19 hits global air passenger numbers, drop by 60% in 2020

As the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the world, the airline industry was one of the sectors of the economy to suffer a hit. Countries around the world shut their borders and limited travel to control the spread of the viral disease.

Travellers cancelled their reservations in large numbers leading to losses to arilines.

Data presented by the website AksjeBloggen.com, indicates that global air passenger traffic is expected to drop by 60 per cent to 1.8 billion in 2020.

It further notes that before the outbreak of the pandemic, the airline industry grew at a steady pace across all countries. Citing the International Air Transport Association data it says the number of scheduled passengers handled by the global airline industry had been increasing for the last 15 years and jumped from 1.9 billion in 2004 to 4.5 billion in 2019. The growth it said was due to the rise of the middle class, growing airport infrastructure spending led by the Asia Pacific, and the surge of low-cost carriers, who almost doubled their market share in this period.

But then the coronavirus pandemic struck, and the number of scheduled passengers boarded by the global airline industry dropped to only 1.8 billion people in 2020, below 2004 levels.

“Statistics show this figure is expected to recover to 2.8 billion in 2021, still 40 per cent less than pre-COVID 19 estimations,” it said.

Making reference the OAG Schedules Analyser the site said the number of scheduled flights worldwide was down by 43.5 per cent year-on-year for the week starting December 14. Analyzed by countries, it indicated that Singapore recorded the most significant drop in scheduled flights, 89 per cent less compared to the same month last year.

Hong Kong ranked second with an 87.7 per cent year-over-year drop. Germany, the United Kingdom, and Italy follow, with 76.6 per cent, 73.5 per cent, and 69.5 per cent decrease, respectively.