Cargo also suffered as overall volumes dropped by 11 per cent year on year in 2020 as airliners, which account for more than half of the world’s airlifted freight-handling capacity, were forced to ground operations.
However, this pushed the price of cargo up with higher revenues generated of lower volumes, a trend that is expected to last into 2021 and which will start to drive airlines’ thinking as they seek to reintroduce operations.
Luman said: “There is more interest than ever before in cargo. It has always been a niche market and airlines focused on passengers but obviously this might change a little bit.
“It will take us three or four years to recover passenger numbers so it can help to get profitable as soon as possible again for an airline.”
He added airlines are also likely to be impacted by the slow return of the business travel market, further driving the need for them to focus on cargo opportunities as a way of generating additional revenues.
Luman also said there was a good chance of new entrants emerging in the air-freight market, although they too might themselves constricted by a lack of suitable aircraft to operate.
He added: “We do see a lot of entrants there while others consider extending the fleet although this isn’t easy and capacity shortage will remain at least for some time.”
Meanwhile, the report predicted that a full recovery in the aviation industry was not likely to occur until 2024 or 2025.
The first seeds of growth are expected to appear in domestic markets with China and Russia expected to be early beneficiaries, before short haul and then long haul international travel pick up.
