Airports Council International (ACI) this week expressed renewed optimism for a global air traffic recovery despite persistent financial challenges and geopolitical tensions, as countries are easing many of their travel-related restrictions.
ACI World’s late report on global passenger traffic, “The Impact of COVID-19 on the Airport Business—and the Path to Recovery,” found that in 2021, the crisis is forecast to have removed 5.4 billion passengers compared to the project baseline (the pre-COVID-19 forecast for 2021), representing a loss of 55 precent of passenger volume.
This represents less than half of what it was in 2019, with 2021 traffic of 4.4 billion only 48.3 percent of the 9.2 billion passengers served globally in 2019, ACI World noted.
Domestic traffic continued to drive recovery, reaching close to 3.4 billion passengers in 2021 corresponding to 63.4 percent of 2019 levels, while international passenger traffic volume last year was only at 27.8 percent of 2019 levels.
In 2022, ACI World estimates that the continuing COVID-19 crisis is expected to remove close to 3.7 billion passengers during the year compared to the projected baseline, representing a 36.1 percent decline in global passenger traffic. Compared to 2019 levels, this would represent a 28.9 percent decrease.
Domestic traffic volume is projected to recover faster in 2022 than international passenger traffic, reaching a total of 4.46 billion passengers in 2022, or 84 percent of 2019 volume. International passenger volume is forecast to be only slightly more than two billion passengers for the year, corresponding to 53.8 percent of 2019 volume.
“On the global front, it has been almost two years since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic,” said Luis Felipe de Oliveira, ACI World director general. “However, we have now reached a potential turning point. The unprecedented global vaccination effort and latest recommendation from the WHO that governments ease travel restrictions could jumpstart the global economic recovery and that of air transport demand”
The ACI-World head went on to note countries are now introducing risk- and evidence-based approaches for a safe return of travel, adding the global airports organization is calling on governments worldwide to ease travel restrictions to restore travel, trade and tourism.
“Despite the risks that exist, the industry remains confident that the potential for a recovery to 2019 levels within two or three years is foreseeable,” he added.
