The nail in the coffin for any imminent O/S dreams.
It comes as no surprise that international travel will be the last thing permitted in the fight against the coronavirus, however, the timeline around this has been unclear. Can we go ahead with those Europe travel plans in 2021; will the crisis have settled by then?
Well, it seems dreams like this might in jeopardy as the International Air Transport Association (IATA) believes international travel won’t return to normal until 2023. The highest international body of airlines believes that while domestic travel should return to normal by the end of the year, jumping across the drink won’t be allowed until the pandemic is well and truly contained.
IATA CEO Alexandre de Juniac spoke to ABC News Breakfast about the developments.
“We have published today a new forecast about the potential recovery of air traffic and what we see is that things should come back to normal in 2023, which is later than our previous forecast. That shows the importance and the severity of this crisis on air transport,” he said.
“What we have planned is to restart the industry, first by reopening domestic markets, then regional continental markets, such as Asia-Pacific, or Europe, or North America.
“At the end of 2020, the traffic should be between 50-55% of the same level that was in place in 2019. So, we would lose something like half the traffic for the 2020.”
It comes after Prime Minister Scott Morrison and New Zealand PM Jacinta Ardern spoke about the possibility of a trans-Tasman ‘bubble’ which will allow citizens of both countries to travel freely between the two nations. While this is not ready to action soon, you can assume New Zealand will be the first accessible international destination for Aussie travellers.
International air travel won’t return to normal until at least 2023, according to the peak body. Wearing masks will also likely be mandatory in-flight and in the terminal. Here’s part of our revealing interview with the @IATA chief. @BreakfastNews https://t.co/7OhOR1iDZL
— Michael Rowland (@mjrowland68) May 14, 2020
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