2020 passenger totals drop 60 per cent as COVID-19 assault on international mobility continues
With its latest economic impact analysis of COVID-19 now completed, the UN agency for civil aviation has confirmed that international passenger traffic suffered a dramatic 60 per cent drop over 2020, bringing air travel totals back to 2003 levels. ICAO reports that as seat capacity fell by 50 per cent last year, passenger totals dropped […]
Statement: New Testing Requirements for Air Travel to Canada
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expressed deep frustration with Canada’s new COVID-19 testing requirement for all arriving air travelers due to come into effect as of 7 January 2021. While the industry for months has been calling for systematic testing to re-open borders without quarantine measures, these pleas have fallen on deaf ears, especially […]
IATA Welcomes Updated ICAO CART Guidance
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) welcomes the publication on the second edition of Take-off: Guidance for Air Travel through the COVID-19 Public Health Crisis by the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) Council Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART). The CART brings together the expertise of ICAO, public health authorities, individual member states, and industry bodies […]
Airport traffic rebounds to levels not seen since March, TSA says
For the first time since March, more than 1 million people were traveling on airplanes Sunday, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said. TSA said in a Monday news release that it screened more than 1 million travelers Sunday, which is the highest number of passengers screened at checkpoints since March 17. More than 6.1 million […]
IATA Urges Alternatives to Quarantines in US
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expressed strong concern over the continued existence of arrival quarantine regimes imposed by state governments in the United States, including New York and Hawaii. IATA urged implementation of pre-departure COVID-19 testing regimes so that states can eliminate quarantine requirements. “Mandatory arrival quarantines for air travelers have the same effect […]
American Airlines Takes First Steps to Open International Markets to Travel with Preflight COVID-19 Testing
As part of an ongoing effort to help protect customer health and safety, inspire confidence in air travel and advance the industry’s recovery from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, American Airlines is collaborating with several foreign governments to begin offering preflight COVID-19 testing for customers traveling to international destinations, starting with Jamaica and the Bahamas. The […]
Ongoing travel restrictions pose risks for global economy, IATA CEO warns
The head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) is warning about the consequences of not loosening current air travel restrictions, saying that current rules could become economically disastrous for most countries. “There will be a major shrinkage in the footprint of aviation,” Alexandre de Juniac, director general and CEO at the IATA, said in […]
China domestic air travel close to 2019 levels
ForwardKeys is predicting that domestic air travel in China, which has been growing progressively in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, will reach a full recovery by the start of September. In the second week of August, domestic arrivals at Chinese airports reached 86 per cent of 2019 levels and bookings (issued air tickets) hit […]
IATA warns that Argentina may delay September air travel restart
Rumours are swirling that Argentina’s government might push back its plan to reopen the country to air travel on 1 September, throwing uncertainty around carriers’ plans to resume operations to the country. “We still have 1 September as the official restart… We have not been notified of any changes,” IATA’s Americas vice-president Peter Cerda told […]
European COVID-19 Impacts Continue to Worsen as Border Restrictions Remain
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released an update to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on air passenger numbers, employment and economies across Europe, and urged governments to coordinate to lift border restrictions and find alternatives to quarantine measures to avoid further economic damage. Although the European market has seen an increase in the […]
