An industry trade group anticipates the global airline market will lose about $12 billion next year, or down 78% compared to 2021 profits, as it recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents about 300 airlines responsible for more than 80% of global airline traffic, said the industry losses this year were worse than originally projected, amounting to $51.8 billion, according to CNBC. Last year, net losses totaled $137.7 billion, bringing net losses to more than $200 billion. However, the IATA expects the total passenger number to increase to 3.4 billion by 2023, up from 2.3 billion this year, but down from 4.5 billion in 2019.
“We are past the deepest point of the crisis,” IATA’s Director General Willie Walsh said during the group’s annual meeting in Boston.“While serious issues remain, the path to recovery is coming into view.”
The meeting was the IATA's first in-person annual meeting since June 2019.
The path and speed of the recovery depend on government-imposed border restrictions, the vaccination rate, and other variables, according to Reuters.
"People ... are being held back from international travel by restrictions, uncertainty and complexity," Walsh said.
Passenger revenue in 2022 is projected to increase about 67% year-over-year to $378 billion, according to Reuters.
The IATA expects air cargo to surge 13.2% above 2019 levels.