Airlines lost $72 per passenger in 2020 as Covid-19 ended positive trend

Airlines made a net loss of $71.71 per passenger during 2020, according to global data released by IATA on 3 August, as the Covid-19 pandemic reversed a period of relatively strong financial performance. In its latest World Air Transport Statistics report, the airline body contrasts last year’s fortunes with an average net profit of nearly $8 per passenger in the five years leading up to 2020, in what it acknowledges is a “high-volume, low-margin” business at the best of times. “This highlights the financial challenges in the years ahead for airlines, when scaling operations up and repaying costly debt,” says IATA, which currently expects the industry to record a net loss of $47.4b in 2021. The loss per passenger in 2020 corresponds to an overall industry net loss of $126.4 billion for the year. During 2020, IATA’s forecast for the overall loss was adjusted upwards several times as the year progressed and prospects for a meaningful recovery diminished. In June 2020, for example, it projected a net loss of $84b for the full year, while in November it forecast a loss of $118b. Going into 2020, it had projected an industry net profit of $29.3b, which would have been an improvement on the $25.9b profit recorded in 2019. Split by region, Asia-Pacific registered the smallest loss per passenger in 2020, at $39.54, as domestic markets proved resilient to the crisis, closely followed by carriers in Africa with a loss of $41.33 per traveller. Figures were significantly worse for other regions, at $66.35 in North America and $66.67 in Europe. The Middle East net loss was $73.19 per passenger, while carriers in Latin America faced the highest loss at $89.45.<br/>