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Europe air travel grinds to a halt after sluggish summer recovery
The slowing recovery in international air travel following the summer season ‘came to a halt’ in November as European carriers saw a near-90% decline in demand, according to latest figures.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) described Europe as the ‘main driver of the [global] weakness’ as lockdowns wrecked any hope of a sustained improvement.
Such ‘inefficient’ measures are causing hardship for millions of airline staff and creating mental stress, IATA Director General and Chief Executive Alexandre de Juniac said.
Along with an 87% fall in international traffic compared to November 2019, worse than the 83% in October, capacity among European airlines fell more than 76% while load factors slid 37.4% percentage points to 46.6%.
Overall international passenger demand collapsed 88%, slightly worse than the 87.6% year-to-year decline recorded in October. Capacity fell 77.4% below the previous year levels, and load factor dropped 38.7 percentage points to 41.5%.
"The already tepid recovery in air travel demand came to a full stop in November. That’s because governments responded to new outbreaks with even more severe travel restrictions and quarantine measures," de Juniac said. "This is clearly inefficient.
"Such measures increase hardship for millions. Vaccines offer the long-term solution. In the meantime, testing is the best way that we see to stop the spread of the virus and start the economic recovery.
"How much more anguish do people need to go through – job losses, mental stress – before governments will understand that?"
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