Status: 04.10.2021 4:52 p.m.
The travel restrictions in the pandemic caused damage totaling more than 200 billion dollars to all airlines. That said the aviation association IATA. But profits should be flown in again in 2023.
According to association estimates, the corona pandemic will result in losses of more than $ 200 billion for the aviation industry. Last year, with the drastic collapse in air traffic, the airlines worldwide posted a combined loss of 138 billion dollars, said the director general of the global airline association IATA, Willie Walsh, in Boston. For this year a minus of 52 billion dollars is expected, and for the coming year the industry organization still expects red numbers of around twelve billion dollars.
Boom through fewer travel restrictions
The good news, however, is that the crisis has bottomed out, stressed Walsh at the IATA annual conference in Boston. The industry wants to be profitable again by 2023. Domestic flights in some markets have already almost reached pre-pandemic levels. That shows that people want to travel, said Walsh.
At the same time, he demanded that corona measures should only remain in force as long as they were really needed. So far, for example, there has been an extensive entry ban for foreign citizens in the USA. However, this should be relaxed again from the beginning of November. The aviation industry is hoping for a further upswing from this.
Hope for fewer emissions
Another topic at the IATA congress was the industry’s poor climate footprint. Walsh said it is possible that it will work climate neutral by 2050. This requires a combination of sustainably produced fuel, new aircraft designs, more efficiency, as well as binding carbon dioxide and offsetting emissions.
There was resistance from Chinese airlines to the objective, but this did not prevail. With the acceptance at the annual meeting, the goal is now the official position of the IATA.
The International Council on Clean Transportation estimates that commercial aviation emitted approximately 918 million tons of CO2 in 2018. According to the German Aerospace Center, global aviation accounts for 3.5 percent of anthropogenic global warming. The show a study from 2020.