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Updated July 28th, 2021 at 06:27 IST

COVID-19: IATA seeks resumption of international air travel, says 'It's time for India'

“It will take three years to reach the 100 percent load factor that is pre-COVID level (2019) if India reopens operations now,” IATA Director General Walsh said

Reported by: Zaini Majeed
COVID-19
IMAGE: AP | Image:self
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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) on Tuesday pressed for the Indian government to fully resume international air travel, arguing that it will take at least 3 years to restore pre-COVID level air traffic if it started now. At a news conference on July 25, IATA Director General Willie Walsh said that the politicians were quick to instate the ban on international air travel [when COVID-19 cases surged] but were too slow to remove them.

"Politicians are quick to impose measures but slow to remove them," IATA DG Willie Walsh said during an interaction with media, according to ANI.

Subsequently, the IATA also appealed for the government to organize a virtual media briefing to address the crisis with respect to the global aviation industry due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions and bans. 

“It will take three years to reach the 100 percent load factor that is pre-Covid level (2019) if India reopens operations now,” ANI quoted the IATA DG Walsh as saying. He added, "The passenger load factor will be around 80 percent or more by 2022, 90-95 percent load factor will be achieved in 2023 and 100 percent load in 2024 as in 2019.” 

Walsh also highlighted the sluggish progress in the revival of the domestic air travel market, blaming the government for slashing the airline capacity and reducing fares during the COVID-19 pandemic. "Among the big domestic markets, India is the only one that is lagging. The recovery is significantly impacted due to the regulation that has been put in place," he said. Furthermore, he continued, “It surprises me that India has been the fastest-growing domestic market largely due to measures taken [in terms of relaxing regulations]. I would hope that we will see a change in approach.” He added, “Regulations restrict competition, market access, and growth.”

The IATA DG’s calls to resume international air travel at full capacity comes in the backdrop of India's largest carrier IndiGo’s latest appeals to relax the COVID-19 air travel protocols. 

IATA DG advises adhering to 'WHO recommendation for international traffic'

Walsh also stressed, during his address that the administrations should “follow the World Health Organisation (WHO), which is a world body and an expert in the area, and countries should follow norms prescribed by it.” He adds, “If the countries start to do it, it becomes more political and less medical. It is in nobody's interest to do that [create confusion over which vaccine to allow and which not].” IATA represents an estimated 290 global airlines, this includes four in India. Air traffic this year dipped by nearly 66.3 per cent in the FY2021 to approximately 115 million passengers, as per the data cited by the aviation consultancy CAPA. International air travel traffic slumped by a whopping 84.8 per cent to 10 million, while domestic dipped by 61.8 per cent. 

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Published July 28th, 2021 at 06:27 IST

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