IATA forecasts devastating outlook for Asia's aviation

There is increasingly a sense that the 'worst is behind us' for the airline industry - and certainly there is cause for some optimism in the US as the winter holiday season approaches, and across the Atlantic, as vaccinated travel opens up.

But in the enthusiasm of a rush for freedom, we need to be cautious and recognise that, as an industry, there are serious challenges ahead. There will be no going back to the industry as we knew it.

CAPA Live on 13-Oct-2021 highlighted IATA's recently released forecasts for 2022's international aviation markets. They are little short of shocking.

Clearly, forecasting is difficult at this time, but as the most reputable and generally impartial forecasts, the scenario that the IATA predictions paint is startling.

In 2022, the third year into the pandemic, the average that emerges predicts at best an anaemic international travel market recovery next year, relative to the pre-pandemic days.