Global air passenger traffic to reach pre-Covid levels by 2024: IATA

"This is expected to improve to 83 per cent in 2022, 94 per cent in 2023, 103 per cent in 2024 and 111 per cent in 2025," IATA said.

Image for representation

According to the International Flight Transport Association (IATA), the total number of air passengers in the world will approach four billion in 2024, up 3% from the pre-Covid level in 2019.

In 2021, overall traveller numbers were 47 per cent of the pre-COVID level, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) mentioned.

"This is expected to improve to 83 per cent in 2022, 94 per cent in 2023, 103 per cent in 2024 and 111 per cent in 2025," it added.

IATA's Director General Willie Walsh said, "the trajectory for the recovery in passenger numbers from COVID-19 was not changed by the Omicron variant."

"People want to travel. And when travel restrictions are lifted, they return to the skies," he noted.
There is still a long way to go to reach a normal state of affairs, but the forecast for the evolution in passenger numbers gives good reason to be optimistic," Walsh stated.

IATA represents some 290 airlines comprising 83 per cent of global air traffic. 

With inputs from PTI