The global airline industry’s top lobbyist expressed cautious optimism that travel will bounce back in the second half of 2021, despite a dismal start to the year.
While forward reservations for summer are stuck at 32% of 2019 levels in North America, and half of that in Europe and Asia, accelerating vaccine campaigns and an improved health-care picture mean demand can still pick up, Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association, said in his first address in the role.
“We should remain optimistic that the second half of this year will be more positive than we’ve seen so far,” said Walsh, the former chief of British Airways owner IAG SA. “The expectation of the vaccine roll-out accelerating is one of the reasons why we can be optimistic that things will start to improve.”
