Orly airport to reopen by late June, 40% of Ryanair flights to resume from July, voluntary redundancy plan at Air France…. Since the health crisis broke out, the air transport sector is struggling really hard. And for good reason, many planes are grounded because the European Union’s outside borders are shut until further notice.
So, when will air travel return to pre-crisis levels? Not before 2023 the International Air Transport Association (IATA) says. According to the association, domestic flights will resume first this summer. Followed by international flights but with a much slower recovery.
To give a few numbers, the association thinks the traffic in 2021 will be 24% under than 2019’s, based on a recovery from the third 2020 quarter and the reopening of domestic flights.
As the association says, the air travel’s recovery will depend on the pace borders will reopen, considering the impact on the long-flight travel “will be long and hard”. Note that the European Commission wishes to coordinate Europe’s inside borders’ reopening.
To allow the air traffic to resume as soon as possible, the IATA recommends wearing facemasks and check passengers’ temperatures, as Air France already does.
Yet, the association is against quarantining passengers at their arrival. For the record, Spain imposes, to all travelers from abroad, a two-week quarantine starting May 15th.
