Air travel set to soar to pre-pandemic levels in 2023: UN aviation agency

“Assuring the safe, secure, and sustainable recovery of air services will be key to restoring aviation’s ability to act as a catalyst for sustainable development at the local, national, and global levels, and will consequently be vital to countries’ recovery from the broader impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Salvatore Sciacchitano, President of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council.

Using advanced big data analytics, ICAO forecasts that the surge in demand will be seen by the end of the first quarter. By year’s end, the agency predicts growth of about three per cent on 2019 figures.

Strong recovery momentum

“The air passenger forecasts ICAO is announcing today, build on the strong momentum toward recovery in 2022, as previously assessed by ICAO statistical analysis,” ICAO Secretary General Juan Carlos Salazar said.

“Through ICAO, governments have reached agreements on goals toward zero accident fatalities by 2030 and zero carbon emissions by 2050 goals, and these will continue to play key roles in both guiding continued progress and in prioritizing ICAO’s implementation support initiatives.”

50 per cent growth

The swift recovery of most international routes lies behind the optimistic predictions, ICAO reported. The number of air passengers carried in 2022 rose by an estimated 47 per cent compared to the previous year.  ICAO also observed an estimated 50 per cent jump in growth of airlines’ annual passenger revenues from 2021 to 2022.