January just tip of iceberg: Coronavirus causes slowest growth in global air traffic in a decade

The outbreak of deadly coronavirus has sent the global aviation industry to a frenzy with the air traffic growth slowing down to a decade low in January. However, January could be merely the tip of the iceberg as passenger growth is expected to take a further hit with the growing cases of coronavirus. “January was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the traffic impacts we are seeing owing to the COVID-19 outbreak, given that major travel restrictions in China did not begin until 23 January. Nevertheless, it was still enough to cause our slowest traffic growth in nearly a decade,” Alexandre de Juniac, Director General and CEO, IATA, said in a statement this week. Coronavirus has spread to virtually all the continents and has affected 75 countries so far, according to WHO.