An International Air Transport Association (IATA) report maintains passenger demand fell 14.1 percent in February 2020 in comparison to last year, attributing the decline to COVID-19 and travel restrictions.
The decline served as the steepest in traffic since the events of 9/11, reflecting collapsing domestic travel in China and sharply falling international demand to/from and within the Asia-Pacific region.
“Airlines were hit by a sledgehammer called COVID-19 in February,” IATA Director General and CEO Alexandre de Juniac said. “Borders were closed in an effort to stop the spread of the virus. And the impact on aviation has left airlines with little to do except cut costs and take emergency measures in an attempt to survive in these extraordinary circumstances. The 14.1 percent global fall in demand is severe, but for carriers in Asia-Pacific, the drop was 41 percent. And it has only grown worse. Without a doubt, this is the biggest crisis that the industry has ever faced.”
The report determined February international passenger demand fell 10.1 percent compared to February 2019, representing the worst outcome since the 2003 SARS outbreak; Asia-Pacific airlines’ February traffic fell 30.4 percent compared to the year-ago period, reversing a 3.0 percent gain recorded in January; and European carriers’ February demand was virtually flat compared to a year ago, producing the region’s weakest performance in a decade.