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Asia-Pacific international passenger demand collapsed 93.2% in 2021: IATA report
January 26th 2022
In its full-year global passenger traffic results for 2021, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported overnight that Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs) worldwide declined by 58.4% last year compared with full-year 2019. Read More » The results were an improvement from 2020, but full-year RPKs were still down 65.8% versus 2019, the association said.
Asia-Pacific airlines’ full-year international traffic plunged 93.2% in 2021 compared with 2019, which was the deepest decline for any region, IATA said.International traffic fell 87.5% in the month of December, a bit better than the 89.8% decline in November, but full-year capacity was down 84.9% against 2019. Load factor declined to 36.5%
Globally, international passenger demand for the year was 75.5% below 2019 levels. Capacity, (available seat kilometers or ASKs) declined 65.3% and load factor fell 24.0 percentage points to 58.0%.
Omicron travel restrictions slowed the recovery in international demand by about two weeks in December, IATA said. International demand has been recovering at a pace of about four percentage points per month compared with 2019. Without Omicron, we would have expected international demand for the month of December to improve to around 56.5% below 2019 levels. Instead, volumes rose marginally to 58.4% below 2019, from 60.5% in November, IATA said.
“While international travel remains far from normal in many parts of the world, there is momentum in the right direction. Last week, France and Switzerland announced significant easing of measures. Yesterday, the UK removed all testing requirements for vaccinated travelers. We hope others will follow their important lead, particularly in Asia where several key markets remain in virtual isolation,” IATA director general, Willie Walsh, said.
“As COVID-19 continues to evolve from the pandemic to endemic stage, it is past time for governments to evolve their responses away from travel restrictions that repeatedly have shown to be ineffective in preventing the spread of the disease, but which inflict enormous harm on lives and economies. A New Year’s resolution for governments should be to focus on building population immunity and stop placing travel barriers in the way of a return to normality.”
