Global air passenger numbers to recover in 2024 says IATA

THE INTERNATIONAL AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION (IATA) expects passenger numbers to reach four billion in 2024, exceeding pre-COVID levels.

The recent update to the association’s long-term forecast revealed traveller numbers in 2021 were 47 per cent of 2019 levels. This is expected to improve to 83 per cent this year, followed by 93 per cent in 2023, 103 per cent in 2024 and 111 per cent in 2025.

International traveller numbers were 27 per cent of 2019 levels in 2021. This is expected to improve to 69 per cent this year, 82 per cent in 2023, 92 per cent in 2024 and 101 per cent in 2025.

“The trajectory for the recovery in passenger numbers from COVID-19 was not changed by the Omicron variant. People want to travel. And when travel restrictions are lifted, they return to the skies,” said IATA Director General Willie Walsh.

“There is still a long way to go to reach a normal state of affairs, but the forecast for the evolution in passenger numbers gives good reason to be optimistic.”

The Middle East will see a slower recovery than the global average, said

IATA, with numbers forecast to reach 81 per cent of 2019 levels this year,

98 per cent in 2024 and 105 per cent in 2025.

IATA continues to urge governments to remove all travel bans and ease restrictions, including the removal of quarantine and testing for fully vaccinated travellers and the introduction of pre-departure antigen testing for quarantinefree travel for non-vaccinated travellers.