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Demand for air travel will take longer to return to pre-pandemic levels than initially expected, according to the latest industry forecast.<\/p>\nDemand for air travel will take longer to return to pre-pandemic levels than initially expected, according to the latest industry forecast.<\/p>\n
Trade body ACI Europe, which represents European airports, said it does not expect passenger numbers to recover until 2024, one year later than it predicted in May.<\/p>\n
This comes after figures for June show the increase in air travel following the easing of coronavirus restrictions has been slower than anticipated.<\/p>\n
Passenger traffic across European airports last month was down 93% compared with June 2019.<\/p>\n
This was an improvement on the 98% year-on-year decline recorded in May, but highlights how far the industry has to go to recover from the pandemic.<\/p>\n
ACI Europe director-general Olivier Jankovec said: \u201cThe recovery in passenger traffic is proceeding at a slower pace than we had hoped for.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was the case in June, and initial data for July also indicates we\u2019re likely to recover only 19% of last year\u2019s traffic rather than the 30% we had forecast.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that EU and Schengen states have not yet managed to effectively co-ordinate and align over their travel policies does not help, as it is not conducive to restoring confidence in travel and tourism in the middle of the peak summer season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Jankovec warned that liquidity for airports will \u201cremain an ongoing concern through the winter\u201d.<\/p>\n
He added that many airports \u2013 especially smaller, regional sites \u2013 will need \u201cfinancial relief\u201d.<\/p>\n