PARIS: The aviation industry has taken a historic hit from the coronavirus and pending an effective vaccine, can only bounce back with systematic testing, sector association IATA said Tuesday.
"The Covid-19 crisis threatens the survival of the air transport industry," with 2020 likely to be its "worst" year ever, the International Air Transport Association said.
Airline revenues will plunge by 60 percent this year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, it said as it held its annual congress.
Even though airlines have slashed costs by $1 billion a day, grounded fleets and cut jobs, they are still racking up huge and "unprecedented" losses, warned the group which represents 290 airlines.
This year's revenues are now expected at around $328 billion, and the industry will likely chalk up net losses of $118.5 billion, far worse than IATA'S June forecast for a loss of $84.3 billion, it added.
In 2019, the sector reported revenues of $838 billion.
The situation is expected to improve next year, but airlines are nevertheless likely to suffer a combined loss of $38.7 billion, also worse than a previous estimate of $15.8 billion, IATA estimated.-AFP