International air travel reached 90.5% of pre-COVID-19 levels, after rising 48% year-on-year in April.
This week, the Annual General Meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) was held in Istanbul, to discuss the challenges facing the industry, on track to reach or even exceed pre- coronavirus.
The sector aims to return to the 4.5 billion passengers recorded in 2019, and in terms of revenue passenger-kilometres, which is one of the sector’s benchmark indicators, airlines exceeded for the first time in April the levels they recorded four years ago on domestic flights. lines.
These percentages were obtained despite the very high prices of plane tickets. In France, during the month of April, prices increased by a third compared to the same month four years ago, according to the Administration general of civil aviation.
But that’s not stopping businesses from filling bookings for the crucial Northern Hemisphere summer tourist season, industry analysts say.
In mid-April, ticket sales in domestic markets were 20% higher than in the same period four years ago, according to IATA, which attributed the momentum to the end of China’s “zero zero” policy. Covid”.
During the epidemic period, some companies went bankrupt, but others, with state support and restructuring, emerged with higher profits.
As for Europe, most major transport companies have returned to profit in 2022, which has allowed them to start reducing their debts or even to consider mergers with weaker competitors.
challenges
Unlike European capitals, a large number of countries did not cut their relations with Moscow after the Ukrainian crisis, and they can still not only organize flights to and from Russia, but above all fly over it to save time and money. ‘money.
Furthermore, the airline industry faces an existential climate crisis, especially as it currently contributes around 3% of global carbon dioxide emissions, a figure that will rise if no action is taken.
After unanimous pledges among countries to achieve “zero emissions” by 2050, most shipping companies are betting on non-fossil fuels to help get there, and it’s a fuel that’s more expensive than conventional fuels , so the United States and Europe are trying to reduce the high prices of these products.
In addition to the high cost of tickets and the high value of fuel, the sector is suffering from a severe shortage of workers after the Corona crisis, especially pilots.
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