October 1 - The severe downturn in air traffic this year caused by Covid-19, followed by a slow recovery will result in a loss of up to 46 million jobs normally supported by aviation around the globe, according to new industry figures.

 

Under normal circumstances, aviation and the tourism it facilitates supports 87.7 million jobs worldwide. Over 11 million jobs are within the sector itself, employed at airlines, airports, civil aerospace manufacturers and air traffic management. The near total shutdown of the system for several months, as well as the stop / start nature of the reopening means that air travel will not recover to pre-Covid levels until around 2024.

 

Key facts outlined in Aviation: Benefits Beyond Borders, include that in a normal year:

• Air transport supports 87.7 million jobs and $3.5 trillion in global economic activity • Over 11 million people work directly for the industry itself. Aviation jobs are, on average, 4.3 times more productive than other jobs in the economy • Air travel carries 35% of world trade by value ($6.5 trillion worth in 2019), but less than 1% by volume (61 million tonnes in 2019) • Airfares today are around 90% lower than the same journey would have cost in 1950 – this has enabled access to air travel by greater sections of the population.Scope of the industry: 1,478 airlines flew 33,299 aircraft on 48,000 routes between 3,780 airports in airspace managed by 162 air navigation service providers • 58% of world tourists travel to their destinations by air

 

Impact of Covid-19:

• Aviation-supported jobs potentially fall by 46 million to 41.7 million (-52.5%) • Direct aviation jobs (at airlines, airports, manufacturers and air traffic management) fall by 4.8 million (a 43% reduction compared with pre-Covid situation) • Nearly 39,200 special repatriation flights took nearly 5.4 million citizens home after borders closed in March 2020 • Nearly 46,400 special cargo flights transported 1.5 million tonnes of cargo, mostly medical equipment, to areas in need during the height of the pandemic response

 

For more information, please visit atag.org

 

 

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