The effect of the Russia-Ukraine war and COVID-19 will see the Nigerian airlines and others across Africa lose $700 million in 2022, according to the International Air Transport Association.
IATA made this claim at the ongoing 78th IATA Annual General Meeting and World Air Transport Summit in Doha, Qatar.
According to IATA, the growth of the aviation industry globally will be affected by inflation, interest and exchange rates.
IATA charged countries to learn from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The IATA’s Director-General, Willie Walsh while speaking at the summit said, “Governments must have learned their lessons from the COVID-19 crisis. Border closures create economic pain but deliver little in terms of controlling the spread of the virus. With high levels of population immunity, advanced treatment methods, and surveillance procedures, the risks of COVID-19 can be managed. At present, there are no circumstances where the human and economic costs of further COVID-19 border closures could be justified.”
IATA noted that the war in Ukraine and COVID-19 are risk factors for the aviation sector.
It further stated that the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on aviation paled compared with the unfolding humanitarian tragedy.
IATA added that despite the war in Ukraine not escalating beyond its borders, the rising fuel costs and a dampening demand due to lowered consumer sentiment would hurt the aviation sector.
It said the Russian international market, Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova accounted for 2.3 per cent of global traffic in 2021, noting that about 7 per cent of international passenger traffic would normally transit Russian airspace (2021 data), which was now closed to many operators, mostly on long-haul routes between Asia and Europe or North America.
IATA said, “There are significantly higher costs for re-routing for those carriers affected.”
It disclosed that just under 1 per cent of global freight traffic originated in or was transited through Russia and Ukraine, but the greater impact was in the specialised area of heavy-weight cargo where Russia and Ukraine were the market leaders.
It said at $192 billion, fuel was the aviation industry’s largest cost item in 2022 (24 per cent of overall costs, up from 19per cent in 2021).
“This is based on an expected average price for Brent crude of $101.2/barrel and $125.5 for jet kerosene. Airlines are expected to consume 321 billion litres of fuel in 2022 compared with the 359 billion litres consumed in 2019.”
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