18 Jan


The UN aviation agency says the total number of airline passengers plunged 60 percent last year, as the coronavirus pandemic ground global travel to a halt.


The International Civil Aviation Organization, or ICAO, says the number of domestic and international passengers totaled 1.8 billion in 2020. That's down from 4.5 billion the previous year.


The spread of the coronavirus prompted governments around the world to restrict international travel and urge citizens to stay home. These measures slashed domestic and international air traffic by 50 and 74 percent respectively.


ICAO says the decline cost airlines a combined 370 billion dollars in revenue and is "threatening millions of jobs around the world."


The agency does say it expects the number of passengers to tick up by the second quarter of this year. But it adds that recovery will be "subject to the effectiveness of pandemic management and vaccination roll out."


nhk