Iata bemoans slow pace of air travel recovery

Global air travel demand rose last month but only marginally, and the chance of a significant revival in international air traffic this summer is growing "fainter" by the day, according to the International Air Transport Association (Iata).

"June should be the start of peak season, but airlines were carrying just 20pc of 2019 levels," Iata director-general Willie Walsh said. "That's not a recovery, it's a continuing crisis caused by government inaction."

Walsh complains that many governments "are not following the data or the science to restore the basic freedom of movement". Even though growing numbers of people are being vaccinated and testing capacity has improved, "we are very close to losing another peak summer season on the important transatlantic market", he said.

The outlook for transatlantic air travel has brightened slightly after the UK government announced yesterday that people fully vaccinated in the US and the EU will be able to travel to England from its 'amber' list of countries without having to quarantine on arrival. However, arrivals from France are excluded because of the prevalence of the Beta Covid-19 variant there. This "flip-flop" on French arrivals "is the kind of policy development that destroys consumer confidence when it is most needed", said Walsh.

Iata's latest data show June's global air travel demand — measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) — was 60.1pc lower than in the same period two years earlier. This was slightly closer to pre-pandemic levels than in May, when demand was 62.9pc behind May 2019. "We are seeing movement in the right direction, particularly in some key domestic markets. But the situation for international travel is nowhere near where we need to be," Walsh said.

Uneven recovery

The pace of recovery in international air travel varies from region to region. In Asia-Pacific, where vaccination roll-outs have been relatively slow and travel restrictions are the most stringent, international traffic lagged June 2019 levels by 94.6pc last month, the same level of decline versus pre-Covid traffic as in May. Asia-Pacific has now seen the steepest traffic declines versus pre-crisis levels for 11 months running, according to Iata data.

In Europe, demand for international travel last month was 77.4pc lower than two years earlier, closer to pre-Covid levels than in May, when demand was 85.5pc lower than 2019 levels. A similar pattern emerged in North America, where demand for international flights trailed pre-pandemic levels by just 69.9pc in June, compared with 74.2pc in May.

Meanwhile, domestic air travel was just 22.4pc short of pre-pandemic levels in June, a slight improvement on May. "The performance across key domestic markets was mixed with Russia reporting robust expansion while China returned to negative territory," Iata said. The association expects US domestic air travel to achieve a full recovery by the end of this year or early 2022.

In stark contrast to passenger demand, the global air cargo market is already well above pre-Covid demand levels. Demand — measured in cargo tonne-kilometres (CTKs) — exceeded 2019 levels by 9.9pc last month. "This pushed first half-year air cargo growth to 8pc, its strongest first half performance since 2017," Iata said.

By Bea O'Kelly