Iata’s latest report on travel demand, measured in revenue passenger kms (RPKs) has shown that both international and domestic demand showed marginal improvements in May this year, compared with April, but traffic remained well below pre-pandemic levels. Iata said recovery continued to be stymied by extensive government travel restrictions.
Willie Walsh, Iata DG, said it was long past the time for governments to start responding to this information with more nuanced data-driven risk-based strategies that would minimise the chance of importing COVID-19, while allowing the world to reopen to travel and all the opportunities it brought.
Because comparisons between 2021 and 2020 monthly results are distorted by the extraordinary impact of COVID-19 during 2020, all comparisons are made with May 2019, which followed a normal demand pattern.
- Total demand for air travel in May 2021 was down 62,7% compared with May 2019, but this was a gain over the 65,2% decline recorded in April 2021 versus April 2019.
- International passenger demand in May 2021 was 85,1% below May 2019, a small gain from the 87,2% decline recorded in April 2021 versus April 2019.
- Domestic demand around the globe was down 23,9% for May 2021 versus pre-crisis levels (May 2019), a small improvement over April 2021, when domestic traffic was down 25,5% versus April 2019.
“We are starting to see positive developments, with some international markets opening to vaccinated travellers. The Northern hemisphere summer travel season has now fully arrived. And it is disappointing that more governments are not moving more rapidly to use data to drive border opening strategies that would help revive tourism jobs and reunite families,” said the DG.
European carriers’ May international traffic declined 84,7% versus May 2019, improved from the 87,7% decrease in April 2021 vs April 2019.
Asia-Pacific airlines’ May international traffic fell 94,3% versus May 2019, fractionally worse than the 94,2% drop registered in April 2021 vs April 2019.
Middle Eastern airlines’ international traffic experienced an 81,3% drop in May 2021 compared with May 2019, slightly better than the 82,9% decrease in April 2021 vs April 2019.
North American carriers’ May 2021 demand fell 74,4% compared with May 2019, an improvement over the 77,6% decline in April vs April 2019.
Latin American airlines saw a 75,1% demand drop in May 2021 over May 2019. This was a notable improvement over the 80,9% decline in April vs April 2019.
African airlines’ traffic fell 71,4% in May vs May 2019, a gain from the 75,6% decline in April 2021 vs April 2019.
“To paraphrase an old saying, when you think that all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Too many governments continue to act as if the only tool in their anti-COVID-19 arsenal is a blanket border closure or an arrival quarantine. In fact, research from leading medical organisations around the globe confirms that vaccinated travellers pose very little risk to the local population, while data show that pre-departure testing largely removes the risk of unvaccinated travellers importing COVID-19,” said the DG.
