The airline industry is set to achieve its first post-pandemic profit next year, as a travel rebound in the U.S. offsets the impact of ongoing Covid-19 curbs in China, the International Air Transport Association predicted.
Carriers will likely generate a collective $4.7 billion in net income in 2023, IATA said in an update to its financial outlook Tuesday. While less than a fifth of the level seen in 2019, it’s still a welcome development after years of disruption that have resulted in close to $190 billion of losses, based on IATA calculations.
The recovery will remain patchy, the trade group says. North American carriers should rack up $11.4 billion in earnings, yet only two other regions — Europe and the Middle East — are likely to halt losses and eke out small gains. Asia is set to suffer a $6.6 billion deficit, even assuming that China begins to re-open to international traffic in the second half of 2023.
