Airline industry racked up £180bn collective net loss since pandemic
The airline industry has racked up a collective net loss of almost $220bn (£180bn) since the Covid pandemic began, according to recent research.
Analysis published today by analytics firm Cirium shows that revenues for the world’s airline groups went down by more than 50 per cent in 2020, ending 2021 still 40 per cent below pre-pandemic levels.
Despite several carriers – including British Airways’ owner IAG or Lufthansa – returning to black in the past few months, the overall industry is expected to post another loss for the whole of 2022.
“If losses so far this year aren’t substantially added to, that would leave the airline industry with the overall net loss of nearly $220bn since the start of 2020,” said Cirium’s chief executive Jeremy Bowen.
Carriers such as Easyet were also hampered by disruption and compensation costs for this summer’s travel chaos, as thousands of people saw their journeys halted due to inadequate levels of staffing.
The disruption witnessed over the past few months has also been at the centre of ongoing rows between airports and their carrier customers, with each side blaming the other for the delays and cancellations.
Nevertheless, Bowen remains positive as he said the industry could break even in the second half of this year, “if we assume that there are no further shocks to the industry.”
European airline groups could be leading the way as traffic within western Europe has surged to 95 per cent of 2019 levels.
Commenting on the data, aviation professor Francesco Ragni told City PM the industry was not “out of the woods” yet, as “with the current socio-economical climate (inflation, recession, etc…) demand is likely to remain highly volatile, slowing down a full recovery.”