The coronavirus pandemic could mean 1.2 billion fewer airline passengers worldwide by September, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) said.
The “most substantial reduction in passenger numbers,” the UN agency said in a statement, “is expected to be in Europe, especially during its peak summer travel season, followed by the Asia-Pacific.”
Airline capacity could also be significantly slashed, it said, resulting in a drop in airline revenues in the first nine months of the year by as much as USD160-253 billion
The projections are more dire than the ICAO’s initial estimates in February when the outbreak seemed to be mostly localised in China, where almost all of the first 1,400 COVID-19 deaths were recorded.
The ICAO said then that the airline industry was facing a USD4-5 billion drop in revenue.
-AFP
