OREANDA-NEWS. The restriction of air traffic due to the threat of the spread of coronavirus will lead to a reduction in global passenger demand in 2020 by 0.6 %, despite previously projected growth of 4.1 %. This follows from a report by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

According to the forecast, global traffic will fall by 4.7 %, which will be the first decrease since the financial crisis of 2008. The Association claims that this will result airlines’ losses of 29.3 billion US dollars. “Lower fuel costs will help offset some of the lost revenue. It will be a very tough year for airlines,” IATA Director General Alexandre de Juniac said. The passenger flow of airlines operating in the Asia-Pacific region will decrease by 13 %, they will lose about 27.8 billion dollars. Chinese companies will lose 12.8 billion. Air carriers operating outside the region will lose about 1.5 billion dollars.