However, Walsh warned it would take a collective effort throughout the air travel value chain to sustain this recovery continues while ensuring passengers continue to have a good experience.
Total global air passenger traffic in February increased by 55.5% year-on-year, rising to 84.9% of where it was in February 2019.
International traffic, meanwhile, almost doubled (+89.7%) year-on-year in February, reaching 77.5% of February 2019 levels, while domestic traffic increased by 25.2% year-on-year in February, with overall domestic traffic the closest to recovering fully versus February 2019 (97.2%).
“Despite the uncertain economic signals, demand for air travel continues to be strong across the globe and particularly in the Asia-Pacific region," said Walsh. "The industry is now just about 15% below 2019 levels of demand and that gap is narrowing each month."
The surge in Asia-Pacific traffic stems largely from China’s decision to reopen its borders in January, with Asia-Pacific airlines reporting a 378.7% year-on-year increase in February traffic.
Japan also saw its domestic traffic increase 161.4% year-on-year in February, with the overall recovery now at 89.9% of pre-pandemic levels.
Walsh said with people flying "in ever greater numbers", the Easter and Passover holiday periods would test the global aviation sector’s post-pandemic resilience. "We are expecting large numbers of travellers to take to the skies in many parts of the world," he said.
"They should do so with confidence that airlines have been rebuilding resiliency that suffered owing to the pandemic. Other participants in the air travel value chain, including airports, air navigation service providers, and airport security staff, need to have the same commitment to ensuring our customers can enjoy smooth holiday travel."
