Global air passenger numbers to exceed pre-COVID level in 2024: IATA

The total number of air passengers in the world will reach the four-billion mark in 2024, exceeding the 2019 pre-Covid level by three per cent, global airlines body IATA said on Wednesday.

In 2021, overall traveller numbers were 47 per cent of the pre-COVID level, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) mentioned.

"This is expected to improve to 83 per cent in 2022, 94 per cent in 2023, 103 per cent in 2024 and 111 per cent in 2025," it added.

IATA's Director General Willie Walsh said the trajectory for the recovery in passenger numbers from COVID-19 was not changed by the Omicron variant.

"People want to travel. And when travel restrictions are lifted, they return to the skies," he noted.

There is still a long way to go to reach a normal state of affairs, but the forecast for the evolution in passenger numbers gives good reason to be optimistic," Walsh stated.

IATA represents some 290 airlines comprising 83 per cent of global air traffic.