COVID19- 77% Collapse in Global Aviation

Monday 6th of April 2020

COVID19- 77% Collapse in Global Aviation

ForwardKeys, the travel analytics company, reveals that the COVID-19 pandamic has brought ‘the aviation industry to its knees’. On the first week of April, international airline seat capacity fell to just 23% of what it was in the first week of April last year.

Olivier Ponti, VP Insights, ForwardKeys: Governments have closed entire countries; and in response, the airline industry has cut services to the bone. It is likely that when we get to the other side of the pandemic, things won’t return to the vibrant market conditions we had at the start of the year, anywhere near as easily as some people imagine.

The top ten airlines still operating in the first week of April (30th March – 5th April) are: KLM, with 800,000 seats still in service, Qatar Airways, with nearly 500,000 seats in service and Ryanair with 400,000. They are followed by Delta, Air France, American, BA, Wizz Air, Cathay Pacific and Jeju.

The aviation industry supports $2.7 trillion of the world’s GDP and also plays an important role in Maldives economy. Seaplanes in the country have been stored due to travel restrictions. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said the sector could lose a quarter of a trillion dollars in revenues this year.