COVID-19 impact: Middle East airlines to lose $4.2bln this year | ZAWYA MENA Edition
The outlook for airlines across the Middle East region is expected to improve this year, but losses will still mount to approximately $4.2 billion, according to the latest data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
In a report issued on Wednesday, the air transport body said that net profit margin for the regions carriers will fall by 13.8 percent, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to weigh on travel demand.
The latest figures, however, are an improvement on the estimated $7.9 billion industry loss and -28.9 percent profit margin cuts incurred by carriers in the Gulf and around the Middle East.
Airlines have been among the worst hit by the COVID-19 outbreak, as fears of infection, coupled with strict border restrictions, have kept travellers away from the airports since last year.
Previous estimates indicated that the volume of air passengers in 2020 was less than 20 percent of the traffic recorded in 2019. The outbreak has also put more than 1.7 million workers in the Middle East at risk of losing their livelihood as airlines continued to burn cash.
Carriers across the region received some $4.8 billion in financial aid from the government last year.
No comments:
Post a Comment