Iata has announced that air travel resumed its strong recovery trend in April, despite the war in Ukraine and travel restrictions in China. This was driven primarily by international demand.

Total demand for air travel in April 2022 measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs) was up 78.7% compared with April 2021 and slightly ahead of March 2022’s 76% year-on-year increase.

April domestic air travel was down 1% compared with the same period a year ago, a reversal from the 10.6% rise in March. This was driven entirely by continuing strict travel restrictions in China, where domestic traffic was down 80.8% year-on-year.

“With the lifting of many border restrictions, we are seeing the long-expected surge in bookings as people seek to make up for two years of lost travel opportunities. April data is cause for optimism in almost all markets, except China, which continues to severely restrict travel,” says Willie Walsh, Iata DG.

Overall, April domestic traffic was down 25.8% versus April 2019, according to Iata’s data. April 2022 international RPKs were down 43.4% compared with the same month in 2019.

The global picture

International RPKs rose 331.9% versus April 2021, an increase on the 289.9% rise in March 2022 compared with a year ago. Interestingly, several route areas are actually above pre-pandemic levels, including Europe; Central America, Middle East; North America and South America; and Central America.

“The experience of the rest of the world is demonstrating that increased travel is manageable with high levels of population immunity and the normal systems for disease surveillance. We hope that China can recognise this success soon and take its own steps towards normality,” Walsh adds.

African airlines’ traffic rose 116.2% in April 2022 versus a year ago, better than the 93.3% year-on-year increase recorded in March 2022. April 2022 capacity was up 65.7% and load factors climbed 15.7 percentage points to 67.3%.

Total April passenger demand globally was down 37.2% compared with the same month in 2019, which is an improvement on the 41.3% decline for March 2022 versus March 2019.

“Two things are clear: two years of border restrictions have not weakened the desire for the freedom to travel,” says Walsh.

“Where it is permitted, demand rapidly is returning to pre-COVID levels. However, it is also evident that the failings in how governments managed the pandemic have continued into the recovery. With governments making U-turns and policy changes, there was uncertainty until the last minute, leaving little time to restart an industry that was largely dormant for two years.”