Worldwide passenger numbers in 2022 reached 68.5% of 2019 levels, with December’s total reaching 76.9% of December 2019. International traffic was 62.2% of 2019 levels.

“The industry left 2022 in far stronger shape than it entered, as most governments lifted Covid-19 travel restrictions during the year and people took advantage of the restoration of their freedom to travel, said Willie Walsh, Iata’s director general.

He added: “This momentum is expected to continue in the new year, despite some governments’ overreactions to China’s reopening.”

Walsh also reiterated his continued opposition to travel restrictions imposed by governments to combat Covid.

“Let us hope that 2022 becomes known as the year in which governments locked away forever the regulatory shackles that kept their citizens earthbound for so long,” he said.

“It is vital that governments learn the lesson that travel restrictions and border closures have little positive impact in terms of slowing the spread of infectious diseases in our globally inter-connected world.

"However, they have an enormous negative impact on people’s lives and livelihoods, as well as on the global economy that depends on the unfettered movement of people and goods.”