When IATA made the initial call to postpone its annual general meeting from June to November, it was with the hope that it may still be possible to hold the Amsterdam event in-person. The second wave of the virus, notably in Europe, dashed any such chances – and with it the wider industry hopes of maintaining this summer’s initial recovery of services through the difficult northern hemisphere winter season.
Now industry leaders meet, still counting the financial cost of the crisis, but looking towards testing and a vaccine as keys to a sustainable return to service.
With a government support package secured and better news on the health outlook, KLM is approaching 2021 on much more ‘solid ground’, according to the airline’s chief executive Pieter Elbers
While low-cost carriers are likely to be among the early beneficiaries of demand for price-sensitive leisure travel in the early stages of a post-pandemic recovery, the lower levels of overall traffic could also see mean renewed focus on hub operations.
Airports, airlines and slot coordinators have joined forces to call for some relief on slot rules during the northern hemisphere’s summer 2021 season.
When Willie Walsh retired from his role at the helm of European airline group IAG in September, it seemed unlikely he would leave the airline industry altogether given the impact he has had on it during his career.
IATA is calling on global regulators to authorise the Boeing 737 Max for a return to service as soon as possible following the FAA approval for the type even though the demand crisis has taken some of the pressure off the airline capacity requirements.
Governments’ perception of coronavirus transmission risk is slowing the effort to create more air travel bubbles in the Asia-Pacific.
IATA’s safety chief identifies maintenance as the biggest challenge airlines face on moving to a full restart of operations after the pandemic, in part because uncertainty on when this might happen makes it harder to plan for.
Cargo capacity in the bellies of passenger aircraft will be necessary for the efficient distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, according to IATA.
The latest air connectivity ranking from IATA shows how China’s large domestic airline market – and the country’s apparent success in controlling the spread of Covid-19 – has boosted its fortunes versus other markets.
IATA is urging governments to promote sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) as a critical tool to enabling the industry to halve its CO2 emissions against 2005 levels by 2050.
African airlines are proving particularly vulnerable to the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the latest analysis from IATA.
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