Global airlines may lose $48 bn in 2021 due to Covid-19

Global aviation body International Air Transport Association (IATA) has warned that the global airlines could lose an estimated $47.7 billion in 2021 due to Covid-19 (net profit margin of -10.4 per cent).

However, this is an improvement on the estimated net industry loss of $126.4 billion in 2020 (net profit margin of -33.9 per cent). International passenger traffic remained down 86.6 per cent on pre-crisis levels over the first two months of 2021.

Vaccination progress in developed countries, particularly the US and Europe is expected to combine with the widespread testing capacity to enable a return to some international travel at scale in the second half of the year, reaching 34 per cent of 2019 demand levels, the IATA said in a statement.