Last year saw 1.8 billion air passengers, compared to 4.5 billion in 2019, with international journeys down 75.6% and domestic travel falling by 48.8%. Passenger revenue fell 69% to $189 billion, with airlines losing $126.4 billion.

One consolation for UK airlines was the fact that 40.8 million UK citizens travelled by air in 2020, the second highest globally behind the US, which accounted for 45.7 million. Next came Germany, France and India.

Despite the UK figures, routes within Europe showed the biggest absolute drop in demand, down by 290 million passengers or 70.7%.

Iata director general Willie Walsh said 2020 “was a year we’d all like to forget” but the industry had shown “amazing perseverance”.

“At the depth of the crisis in April 2020, 66% of the world’s commercial air transport fleet was grounded as governments closed borders or imposed strict quarantines. A million jobs disappeared,” he said.

The industry’s losses equate to almost $72 per passenger flown. The Middle East suffered the largest loss of passengers, down 71.5%, followed by Europe, down 69.7%. 

Star Alliance maintained its position as the largest airline alliance in 2020 with 18.7% of total scheduled traffic, followed by SkyTeam (16.3%) and oneworld (12.7%).

One bright spot for the industry was cargo, with cargo airlines seeing exceptional demand following the massive drop in capacity from the bellies of passenger aircraft. This meant industry-wide cargo capacity actually fell 21%.