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The aviation sector is finally showing some promising signs of recovery, following two years of COVID-19 restrictions that impacted the global industry severely, with 2022 expected to be a year of steady rebound and renewed activity.

To put the impact of the pandemic into perspective, figures published by International Air Transport Association (IATA) reveal that 2020 was the worst year on record for the aviation industry. In 2020, only 1.8 billion passengers flew, which was a decrease of 60.2% compared to the 4.5 billion who flew in 2019. Industry-wide air travel demand dropped by 65.9% year-on-year, with international passenger demand decreasing by 75.6% compared to the year before and domestic air passenger demand dropping by 48.8%.

However, Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) is pleased to report that its network recorded a 48% recovery in passenger throughput when compared to similar period in the year leading to COVID-19 crisis, for the financial year ending March 2022. This as air traffic in the 2021/2022 financial year was impacted by the third and fourth waves of new infections, which were proliferated by the Delta and Omicron variants, respectively.

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Issued by ACSA