Covid-19: the results of airlines in free fall in 2020, priority tests

The Covid-19 crisis has inflicted a historic shock on airlines with for 2020 results in free fall for the sector that only systematic screening tests could rectify pending the generalization of a vaccine, their organization estimated on Tuesday. ‘Iata.

“The Covid-19 crisis threatened the survival of the airline industry” and “the history books will remember 2020 as the worst financial year” for the sector, underlined the organization which brings together 290 airlines in the occasion of its 76th general assembly.

The turnover of the sector will reach 328 billion dollars in 2020, against 838 billion in 2019, a collapse of more than 60%.

The number of passengers transported in 2020 fell back to the level of 2003 with 1.8 billion travelers (-60.5% compared to 4.5 billion in 2019) while projections forecast 5 billion passengers. “This crisis is devastating and relentless,” said Iata director general Alexandre de Juniac, referring to an industry “in flames”.

To regain the confidence of passengers and get them back on board planes without fear, companies and airports have deployed a series of measures to ensure their health security, ranging from paperless boarding procedures to the wearing of compulsory masks in airplanes. through reinforced cleaning of devices.

Read alsoWill rapid antigenic tests save air travel?

Tests, a priority

But the key to the restart lies in the reopening of the borders and the lifting of quarantine measures, according to the Iata which has been arguing strongly for months for the generalization of Covid-19 screening tests carried out on the departure of passengers and maintains this requirement. despite the announced arrival of vaccines.

Covid-19 screening centers have been set up in many airports to allow passengers to perform antigen tests or RT-PCR virological tests, more reliable than the first but with slower results, according to country requirements of destinations.

According to a study carried out by the organization, if the tests were generalized at the start, the risk of seeing a contaminated passenger on board a plane would be 0.06%, that is to say 12 positive cases not detected for 20,000 passengers. at the arrival.

To facilitate the practice of tests on a global level, the organization has developed an application for a digital health passport which would notably guarantee the authenticity of the screening test or the vaccination certificate.

Eight months of cash

While waiting for the massive deployment of tests or vaccines and a harmonization of rules between the different countries, “companies will have to continue to draw on their liquidity at least until the fourth quarter of 2021, so there is no time to lose ”, underlined Mr. de Juniac.

According to Brian Pearce, the organization’s chief economist, companies had an average of eight and a half months of cash at the end of June. More than 40 airlines have already gone bankrupt, he said.

The companies have obtained, according to new data from Iata, 173 billion dollars in aid in 2020 to survive the crisis but are demanding a second tranche of aid.

The arrival of vaccines is “very good news”, commented Mr. de Juniac. “But it is“ premature to say when and how it will be deployed in the world. The urgency now is to put in place testing procedures. We cannot wait for a vaccine, ”he continued.

Based on the arrival of a vaccine in the summer of 2021, Iata has so far predicted that traffic will return to normal in 2024.

After almost total paralysis in April, traffic picked up slowly in June, especially in domestic markets, but it has slowed down again since September with the emergence of the second wave of Covid-19 and border closure measures and accompanying quarantines.

Regions with large domestic markets are benefiting from the strongest reboots. In China, cradle of the coronavirus, companies should become profitable again by the end of the year, according to Iata.

(With AFP)