Global Demand for Passenger Flights Drops by 70.3% Year-on-Year in November - IATA

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th January, 2021) The global demand for passenger flights has decreased by 70.3 percent this past November, compared to November 2019, due to the coronavirus-related measures implemented by countries, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Thursday.

"Total demand (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) was down 70.3% compared to November 2019, virtually unchanged from the 70.6% year-to-year decline recorded in October," the IATA said in a press release.

According to the IATA, the sharpest drop in the demand for passenger flights of 84.5 percent was registered in the middle East that was followed by Europe (82.2 percent) and Africa (75.5 percent).

The association added that the global demand for air freight shrunk by 6.

6 percent this November, compared to the previous year's figures.

"Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs*), was 6.6% below previous-year levels in November," the IATA said.

According to the association, the most dramatic 19.2 percent decrease was recorded in Latin America that was followed by Europe with a 13.4 percent drop.

On December 29, the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) said that, in November, the passenger traffic at Russian airports decreased by roughly 28 percent, compared to October, adding that 4.66 million passengers traveled by Russia's air companies that was 48 percent less than November 2019.