The International Air Transport Association says the aviation industry must reassure governments that aviation will not be a vector in the spread of the disease.
“March was a disastrous month for aviation. Airlines progressively felt the growing impact of the Covid-19-related border closings and restrictions on mobility, including in domestic markets.“Worse, we know that the situation deteriorated even more in April and most signs point to a slow recovery,” IATA director-general and CEO Alexandre de Juniac said.That is much worse than the 10.3% year-to-year decline in February. All regions recorded double-digit percentage traffic declines.
IATA said Chinese airlines continued to see the steepest declines, with domestic demand down 65.5% in March compared to March 2019. This, however, was an improvement over the 85% year-to-year decline in February as the country began to re-open domestic air travel.