AIR CARRIERS are mounting more international flights in a bid to recover lost revenues during the two-year Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.
In a report dated April 28, the International Air Transport Association (Iata) said, “Global air connectivity has continued to recover in 2023. As of March, overall air connectivity stood at 79 percent of its prepandemic level, demonstrating a steady improvement despite slowdown in economic activity through 2022 and into the start of this year.”
IATA noted that while the recovery was seen in all regions, Africa performed the strongest. “International air connectivity in Africa has exceeded its 2019 level and was at 104 percent in March 2023,” said the global private-sector led aviation body. Iata has over 300 airlines in 120 countries as members, which carry 83 percent of the world’s air traffic.
In contrast, the Asia-Pacific region continues to lag in air connections, with just 62 percent of its 2019 level in March. “Having said that, there has been a strong increase—of 40 percentage points —in Asia-Pacific international connectivity over the past year. With China and other important regional markets only relatively recently reopening boarders and lifting travel restrictions, we anticipate a sizeable improvement again this year, which will further close the gap to the performance of other regions.”
Iata underscored the importance of air connectivity in facilitating the movement of people, goods, and services, thus enhancing global trade, investment, and travel. “Air connectivity plays an important role in increasing economic growth, generating employment opportunities, and improving living standards,” said the organization.
Earlier, Forward Keys predicted more travel within and into the Asia Pacific region by the second half of 2023. A company official said, “Airlines and airports cannot resume operations with the appropriate level of services overnight, especially given that many are facing staffing issues. The speed at which the region will get back to pre-Covid levels will highly depend upon its ability to reestablish air connectivity, especially within the region itself. Airlines need a stable environment to operate, and as we are moving toward this stabilization, we expect travel to and within Asia Pacific to pick-up more strongly in the second half of 2023, unless a new Covid variant or geopolitical tensions lead governments in the region to revert to travel restrictions.” Forward Keys gathers global data on aviation movements based on actual ticketing sales. (See, “Travel to PHL, Asia Pacific seen picking up in July-December,” in the BusinessMirror, March 21, 2023.)
Meanwhile, after Africa, the strongest recoveries in air connectivity were Latin America and the Caribbean, now at 97 percent of their prepandemic levels; the Middle East at 98 percent; while Europe and North America are both currently at 87 percent of their pre-Covid levels, according to the IATA report.
The organization added, “Overall, international air connectivity has recovered more rapidly than domestic over the past year, growing by 27 percentage points [compared to] 10 percentage points for the latter. The increase primarily reflects the relatively low level of international connectivity in early 2022, and the surge of international travel demand driven by the reopening of international travel markets, which gained momentum through the year.”
Earlier, Iata projected the recovery of air travel by 2024, with overall air passenger numbered slightly exceeding its pre-Covid levels, at 103 percent of 2019 numbers. It also predicted full recovery of the Asia-Pacific region, in terms of domestic and international air travel, at the tailend of 2025.