Mideast aviation industry recovering faster than other markets: IATA chief – The Peninsula

Mideast aviation industry recovering faster than other markets: IATA chief – The Peninsula

Director General of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Willie Walsh.

Doha: The Middle East aviation market is recovering from the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 crisis at a fast rate, and is even ahead of other aviation markets globally, according to Director General of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Willie Walsh.

Speaking to The Peninsula on the sidelines of the 8th IATA World Financial Symposium which opened in Doha yesterday, Walsh said the global aviation industry may expect a full recovery by next year.

“The Middle East market is ahead of the rest. Some markets in the Middle East and North Americas, they are 10 percent larger now than they were in 2019. So the Middle East market is recovering at a fast rate, and I think that reflects the ambition here. The one area that is restricting the recovery in the Middle East is Asia, because of ongoing restrictions there. But the industry is returning to a more stable position than it had been,” Walsh added.

According to IATA’s Air Passenger Market Analysis, for airlines in the Middle East, traffic was up by 193.1 percent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in July and international revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) are now 22.3 percent below the