Covid-19: Which airlines will soar after the pandemic?
The Covid-19 pandemic, with its lockdowns and travel bans, clobbered the world’s airlines. Revenues per passenger-kilometre, the industry’s common measure of performance, plummeted by 66% in 2020, compared with 2019. The IATA expects them to remain 57% below pre-pandemic levels this year. Although the world’s listed airlines have collectively just about recovered from the US$200b Covid-induced stockmarket rout, forecasters reckon that air travel will return to levels from 2019 only by 2024. The companies’ total annual losses may hit US$48b in 2021, on top of US$126b in 2020. Many have been torching cash as fast as their aeroplanes burn jet fuel. Plenty survived only thanks to government bail-outs. The industry-wide picture conceals disparities, however. Some airlines are struggling despite having cut costs, slashed fleets and shored up balance-sheets with commercial loans. Others are brimming with confidence. Big American and Chinese ones with large, increasingly virus-free domestic markets will return to profitability first. Frugal low-cost carriers that went into the pandemic in the black are close behind. Story has more.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2021-07-08/general/covid-19-which-airlines-will-soar-after-the-pandemic
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Covid-19: Which airlines will soar after the pandemic?
The Covid-19 pandemic, with its lockdowns and travel bans, clobbered the world’s airlines. Revenues per passenger-kilometre, the industry’s common measure of performance, plummeted by 66% in 2020, compared with 2019. The IATA expects them to remain 57% below pre-pandemic levels this year. Although the world’s listed airlines have collectively just about recovered from the US$200b Covid-induced stockmarket rout, forecasters reckon that air travel will return to levels from 2019 only by 2024. The companies’ total annual losses may hit US$48b in 2021, on top of US$126b in 2020. Many have been torching cash as fast as their aeroplanes burn jet fuel. Plenty survived only thanks to government bail-outs. The industry-wide picture conceals disparities, however. Some airlines are struggling despite having cut costs, slashed fleets and shored up balance-sheets with commercial loans. Others are brimming with confidence. Big American and Chinese ones with large, increasingly virus-free domestic markets will return to profitability first. Frugal low-cost carriers that went into the pandemic in the black are close behind. Story has more.<br/>
