Air travel not expected to recover until 2024
Passengers watch watch aircrafts at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, July 28, 2020. Few flights are scheduled for international departure only but the authorities has emerged from a strict lockdown and travel restrictions between cities have been eased through Saudi airports in June. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Air travel will take even longer than previously thought to return to pre-virus levels.
That’s the gloomy prediction from the air transport trade association or IATA.
They are pushing their forecast back by a year, to 2024.
That’s when they say travel will make it back to 2019 levels.
“A slower recovery will put more airlines in financial peril,” a release from the trade association stated. “And, as we have said many times in these briefings, government relief measures are essential.”
In June, air travel around the world was down 86% compared to a year earlier.
IATA says air travel recovery will take longer because of the resurgence of cases in many places including the U.S.
