Islamabad
Global carriers could face nearly $48 billion in losses this year as the troubled sector is struggling to rebound from the coronavirus pandemic, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said.
The new figures presented by the global airlines body are around 25 percent worse than it had previously expected. It had earlier forecast a $38 billion deficit.
The airline industry’s losses are expected to amount to around a third of what the troubled sector saw in 2020, when it lost more than $126.4 billion as the spread of the coronavirus forced governments to shut borders.
“This crisis is longer and deeper than anyone could have expected. Losses will be reduced from 2020, but the pain of the crisis increases,” IATA’s Director General Willie Walsh said in a statement.
He added that travel restrictions imposed by governments still affect the demand for international travel.
The agency now expects global traffic in 2021 to amount to 43 percent of pre-crisis levels.—TLTP
