Covid-19: Air traffic in 2022 reached 68.5% of its level before the crisis

A little less than three years after the initial containment, global air traffic has returned to health. According to the International Air Transport Association (Iata), it has reached 68.5 percent, or more than two-thirds, of its pre-Covid-19 levels. Measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs), one of the industry's benchmarks, domestic traffic was up 10.9 percent from the previous year.

Domestic routes returned to 79.6 percent of their 2019 level. That is, the last full year before the pandemic, which caused multiple travel restrictions around the world, according to statistics released by the organization that brings together 300 airlines (representing 83% of global traffic).

Domestic traffic is on track to return to its pre-crisis level in Latin America (-0.5% compared to 2019), Europe (-3.1%), and North America (-6.3%) but lagged behind in Asia Pacific (-40.3%) due to prolonged travel restrictions, particularly within the massive Chinese market.

The "zero Covid" policy, which continued in China until the beginning of December, led Iata that month to revise downwards the estimate of passenger traffic for the year at the global level to 70.6% of the 2019 level, compared with the 82.4% previously expected. It should return to 85.5% of the pre-crisis level in 2023, it said.

International traffic multiplied by two

International traffic, which had been the most affected, has been multiplied by 2.5 in 2022 and has reached 62.2% of its 2019 level. Again, while most continents recovered three-quarters of their pre-crisis international traffic, Asia-Pacific was still down 68.2% from 2019.

"The industry left 2022 in much better shape than it entered, as most governments lifted Covid-19 travel restrictions during the year and people took advantage of the restoration of their freedom to travel," according to Iata Director General Willie Walsh. He said "this momentum should continue in the new year, despite some governments overreacting to China's reopening."

Many countries have imposed Covid tests on travelers from China, where there was a major epidemic rebound after the end of restrictions, a practice deemed "impulsive" and "ineffective" by Iata.