Clearing Skies

Experts predict the airline industry will return to profitability in 2023

- Lauren Smith

THE INTERNATIONAL AIR Transport Association (IATA) forecasts that the global airline industry will post a “razor-thin” net profit of $4.7 billion this year, returning to profitability after three years of losses during the coronavirus crisis. The profits will be modest: a net profit margin of just 0.6 percent on revenues of $779 billion and a fraction of the $26.4 billion profit the industry made in 2019. However, IATA's chief, Willie Walsh, says the forecasts represent a “step in the right direction” for an industry shaken by pandemic travel restrictions and successive staff shortages.

Worldwide, airlines have hemorrhaged billions of dollars since the coronavirus began closing borders, stifling consumer demand and ravaging economies. In 2020, with strict lockdowns imposed worldwide and planes grounded, carriers lost a collective $137.7 billion. The following year, although air traffic had resumed in many locations, airlines were hobbled by staff shortages and supply chain disruptions, enduring losses of up to $42 billion.