- Negligible growth in international air traffic forecast for this year
- Vaccination rates offer some hope, but clinical uncertainties linger
The airline industry has been in a holding pattern for longer than memory serves. Probably the last time when skies were this clear was in the immediate aftermath of the 911 attacks, or perhaps when Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted in 2010. But those were temporary effects. The challenges posed by the travel restrictions put in place after Covid-19 took hold are different in terms of scale and the financial pressures faced by carriers across the globe.