IATA: Global air travel demand recovers rapidly despite rising prices for fuel

Created on 14.04.2022 14:21

 "We are witnessing a positive trend towards Europe where customers are not deterred by higher ticket prices due to rising fuel prices. I don't think that we'll quickly return to 2019 levels in terms of traffic this summer, but we are definitely moving in the right direction," said Willie Walsh, the IATA CEO during the briefing.

IATA Chief Economist Marie Owens Thomsen noted that passengers are demonstrating less sensitivity to current prices owing to strong desire to travel after two years of quarantine. According to the IATA's Operational Report for February 2022, the process of industry recovery is accelerating after the pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian crisis has not yet had a significant impact on the booking dynamics.

Nevertheless, cargo airlines from the Middle East have gained a big advantage over competitors due to the closure of Russian airspace, thus increasing the flight time on cross-continental routes for European airlines.

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