Asia has still a long way to go to full recovery

With the 2022 Singapore Airshow starting on Tuesday, the focus of the aviation industry is on Asia this week. It has been the region first affected by the Covid-crisis in 2020 and continues to be the last where travel restrictions apply, although some re-opening is evident in recent weeks. Asia has still a long way to go to full recovery.

IATA Director General Willie Walsh’s 2021 presentation on January 25 said it all too well: Asia Pacific is lagging behind the rest of the world in the recovery of air travel. International Revenue Passenger Kilometers (RPKs) for the full year were 93 percent down on 2019. Since April, the region has been consistently in the -90 percent region. Only in August 2021, a slight improvement could be seen, which went further up from October. But then Omicron emerged, causing new disruptions. IATA has yet to produce the numbers for January.