Omicron causes sharp drop in airline ticket sales: IATA

Airline ticket sales fell sharply at the end of 2021, the IATA said Wednesday, blaming governments for having "over-reacted" to the Omicron Covid variant by closing borders. The IATA, which groups over 290 airlines, said international air travel had been slowly but steadily recovering from the mass shutdowns of 2020 and early 2021 before the fast-spreading Omicron strain was discovered at the end of November. Ticket sales in November were 60.5% below their pre-pandemic November 2019 level, marking an improvement on the 64.8% decline recorded a month earlier. "Unfortunately, governments over-reacted to the emergence of the Omicron variant at the close of the month and resorted to the tried-and-failed methods of border closures, excessive testing of travellers and quarantine to slow the spread," IATA president Willie Walsh accused. "Not surprisingly, international ticket sales made in December and early January fell sharply compared to 2019, suggesting a more difficult first quarter than had been expected," he added. In October, the association forecast cumulative industry losses of $11.6b in 2022, down from an estimated $51.8b in 2021 and $137.7b in 2020. The ICAO said separately on Wednesday that preliminary data shows the number air passengers was down by 49% last year from pre-pandemic levels in 2019. That was an improvement from the 60% drop in 2020.<br/>