According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), global air travel grew by 64.4% last year compared to 2021 (in revenue passenger-kilometers, RPK). At the same time, air travel remains down by 31.5% compared to pre-pandemic figures in 2019.
International air transportation grew most significantly in 2022, by 152.7%. Although this is largely due to poor growth in 2021. Compared to 2019, international air transportation decreased by 37.8%.
According to the results of 2022, the international civil aviation turnover decreased by 8% compared to the high results of 2021. At the same time, in comparison with the results of the “pre-COVID” 2019, the drop was only 1.6%, the IATA press service reported.
At the same time, the decline in freight turnover accelerated by the end of the year – down to 13.7% in November and 15.3% in December compared to the same months last year.
The capacity of the air cargo market increased by 3% in 2022 compared to 2021, while this indicator decreased by 8.2% in comparison with the “pre-Covid” 2019.
Predicting the future situation in the air cargo market, Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General, noted that the continuing measures by key governments to fight inflation by cooling economies are expected to result in a further decline in cargo volumes in 2023 to -5.6% compared to 2019.
At the same time, average yields and total revenue for 2023, as the head of IATA believes, should remain well above what they were pre-pandemic.