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IATA PREDICTS INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL WON’T RETURN TO NORMAL UNTIL 2024

Hold that 2023 travel plans coz they just changed their prediction

IATA PREDICTS INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL WON'T RETURN TO NORMAL TILL 2024
Image: Ross Parmly

The International Air Transport Association or IATA has warned that international travel won’t reach the pre-COVID-19 levels till 2024.

 

IATA also revealed that the Australian market was among the worst hit and was not recovering as quickly as others. The association also said that uncertainty regarding the timing of border reopenings is a serious factor that is influencing international traffic and international travel. Some other reasons for the pessimistic outlook regarding international travel are reduced corporate travel, weak consumer confidence, and slow containment of the virus in the US, and many developing economies.

 

 

IATA Chief Executive, Alexandre de Juniac, spoke about international travel and lower chances of its resumption soon. He said, “Passenger traffic hit bottom in April, but the strength of the upturn has been very weak. What improvement we have seen has been domestic flying. International markets remain largely closed. Consumer confidence is depressed and not helped by the UK’s weekend decision to impose a blanket quarantine on all travellers returning from Spain. And in many parts of the world infections are still rising. All of this points to a longer recovery period and more pain for the industry and the global economy.”

 

IATA also gave hope regarding international travel when it stated there was some pent-up demand for travel to visit friends and family and even leisure travel. Sadly, concerns regarding job security, increasing unemployment, and the risk of getting infected by COVID-19 have led to weaker consumer confidence.

 

Mr de Juniac also said that international traffic was “virtually non-existent” at this time and highlighted international arrival closures as a key concern. He said, “Most countries are still closed to international arrivals or have imposed quarantines, that have the same effect as an outright lockdown.”

 

Data shared by IATA also revealed that Australia saw the biggest drop in domestic revenue per passenger-kilometre of any large country. It also shared that there was a 94 per cent slump in June 2020 as compared to June 2019.

 

The IATA had previously stated that international travel won’t return to normal until 2023. So, thanks to coronavirus threat, this timeframe now has 12 months tacked onto it. If you had any international travel plans scheduled, it would be wise to unpack your bags and wait for the coronavirus crisis to pass.