Director general Luis Felipe de Oliveira said the missing travellers represent 47.5 per cent of expected passenger traffic for the year and will lead to a $94 billion loss in revenue, again roughly half of what had been predicted for the year.
Nor are things set to improve quickly de Oliveira said, with international traffic levels unlikely to hit 2019 levels until 2024 or 2025, according to analysis released in ACI’s Advisory Bulletin: The impact of Covid-19 on the airport business and path to recovery.
While the future might be brightening a little, thanks to vaccination programmes rolling out across the world, he urged governments to work together to reopen the skies to the travelling public.
De Oliveira said: “Covid-19 remains an existential crisis for airports, airlines and their commercial partners and we need support and sensible policy decisions from governments to ensure that aviation can fuel the global economic recovery.”
While the situation is a difficult one, what is interesting is how the mass grounding of passenger aircraft, which carry about 60 per cent of the world’s airfreight, has forced those in the cargo sector to rethink their businesses.
The Spring 2021 edition of CAAS: Cargo Airports & Airline Services features an in-depth analysis of how cargo operators in Africa are adapting to the new rules caused by the pandemic.
The loss of so many passenger aircraft from scheduled routes has created a capacity shortage, just as there is a glut in demand for cargo space as vaccines and personal protective equipment (PPE), among many other items, are required around the world.
The resulting increase in cargo prices has caused African airlines across to rethink operations quickly, leading to the conversion of grounded passenger aircraft into all-freight aircraft – preighters – with both Ethiopian Airlines and Kenya Airways following the trend.
Indeed, such is the success of the practice that Kenya has gone one step further, removing seats from the main passenger deck of some of the aircraft involved in order to create more cargo capacity.
Nor is that the only example of the ongoing importance of freight in the current era. The magazine includes a report on how concerns over keeping vaccines at certain low temperatures when in transit are abating, thanks to new air freight container and product launches.
And all this is being recognised at the highest levels in the industry. The CAAS Outlook 2021 Report shows both airline and airport boards are increasingly valuing the opportunities the cargo sector present, and which could drive a new golden era in the sector.
To read all about it and more, visit CAAS: Cargo Airports & Airline Services.
