Global passenger traffic will return this year to its pre-coronavirus level, before surpassing 2019 activity by the end of 2023, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) estimated Wednesday. This forecast represents a new acceleration of air transport, after a year 2022 in which assistance reached 74% of the volume registered in 2019, the last full year before the arrival of Covid-19.
Passenger traffic had fallen 60% in 2020 compared to the previous year. In 2021, it was still down 49% compared to 2019, according to the UN agency based in Montreal (Canada).
Return to operating profitability in the last quarter
ICAO predicts that “demand will quickly return to pre-pandemic levels for most destinations during the first quarter” of 2023, according to a press release. The agency estimates that by the end of the year, attendance will be about 3% higher than 2019 numbers. It is expected to rise 4% above that baseline year in 2024.
The organization foresees a return to operating profitability (profit before taxes and amortizations) of the sector in the last quarter of 2023, “after three consecutive years of losses”. Many companies have already returned to profit, mainly thanks to the renewed appetite for tourism and air travel. A resurgence that marked price increases have not stopped.
As for air freight transport, the ICAO forecasts a smaller increase than that of passenger traffic, “due to the slowdown in global growth.” In 2022, the transport of goods by air was equivalent to the volumes registered in 2021.
Source: BFM TV
