The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said that international air travel has been recovering strongly this year, and air travel in Europe and the United States has returned to the level of about 60% before the epidemic "Last year, international travel was about 25% of 2019. It rose to 42% in the first quarter of this year," IATA director general Willie Walsh said in an interview on Tuesday.
"In fact, we have seen very strong growth in some markets, with about 60% in the United States, Europe and Latin America," he said
By contrast, Walsh added, air travel in Asia is "only about 13% of that in 2019".
Asked whether business air travel would return to pre pandemic levels, Walsh said the recovery in this area would be "slightly slower".
"I think everyone will now admit that there will be no fundamental structural change that we all think is possible," he added