The International Air Transport Association tracked a 67.2 per cent decline in global air traffic in March, compared to the same month in 2019. That’s a marked improvement over February’s 74.9 per cent decline compared to February 2019.
The traffic improvement was due largely to a domestic rebound, which bounced back to 67.7 per cent of March 2019 levels, according to IATA. China’s domestic traffic, in particular, rebounded with numbers climbing to 97.4 per cent of 2019 levels. Global crossborder traffic, however, improved very little, declining 87.8 per cent globally compared to March 2019—a small serial improvement from the 89 per cent drop in February 2021.
“The positive momentum we saw in some key domestic markets in March is an indication of the strong recovery we are anticipating in international markets as travel restrictions are lifted, " said IATA director general Willie Walsh. "People want and need to fly. And we can be optimistic that they will do so when restrictions are removed.”
Compared to March 2019, global capacity dropped 56.8 per cent, and load factor dropped 19.7 percentage points to 62.3 per cent. Crossborder capacity dropped 77.4 per cent, and load factor fell 37.2 percentage points to 43.7 per cent. Domestic capacity fell 20.5 per cent. Load factor dropped 12.5 percentage points to 71.6 per cent.
Based on flight bookings, IATA expects even domestic traffic improvements to stall in April amid surging Covid-19 infection rates in India, the Middle East and South America, alongside an uneven global vaccine rollout. For the May to July period, however, current bookings indicate potentially stronger traffic.