Millions more passengers to fly across Middle East, Africa in 2022 as air travel returns

Millions more passengers to fly across Middle East, Africa in 2022 as air travel returns

As of the end of April, overall flight bookings were 25 percent above the levels seen prior to the COVID-19 outbreak in 2019. If flight booking trends continue at their current pace, around 1.5 billion more people globally will fly in 2022 compared to the previous year, according to the report.

The Middle East and Africa region is likely to record 115 million more passengers this year, while Europe is forecast to log close to 550 million more flights.

Latin America and the Caribbean is expected to post an increase of 120 million flights compared to the previous year, while Asia Pacific and North America could see an additional 430 million and 365 million passengers, respectively.

“The desire to travel is strong and consumer and business demand for air travel, measured by flight bookings, accelerated meaningfully in early 2022,” Mastercard’s report said.

Over the next three months, roughly 21 percent of consumers are expected to book domestic flights, while 12 percent are likely to spend their money on international travel, according to Mastercard’s related study that polled 2,250 consumers across 13 markets.

The same study also found that more than half (54 percent) of respondents look forward to making big “make-up” trips after two years