The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said that full-year airline passenger traffic is set to decline by 66% after previously forecasting a 63% decline.
"The improvement that we saw in the summer months has more or less stopped," IATA chief economist Brian Pearce said.
August traffic was down by 75.3% in terms that reflect passenger numbers as well as distance flown, compared with a 79.5% drop in July.
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Enjoy full access to Hospitality Ireland, our weekly email news digest, all website and app content, and every digital issue.Additionally, Load factors that measure the proportion of aircraft seats filled fell 27.2 points to a record low of 58.5% in August.
"The industry is restarting but it looks as though it's still burning through cash," Pearce said.
IATA said that losses will continue to mount throughout 2020, with bookings data pointing to a weak fourth quarter.
Cargo Demand
IATA also said that Cargo demand was down 12.6% in August, which was an improvement on July's 14.4% decline.
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