As
The Economist points out, the five-year period before the pandemic was the only one since Orville and Wilbur Wright made their first flight in 1903 in which the industry covered its cost of capital. Burned again by COVID-19, many investors the likes of Warren Buffet have now decided to stay away from anything that flies.
Additionally, the forecast made in May 2020 by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) that passenger numbers would return to pre-pandemic levels by 2023 now looks optimistic. But IATA’s prediction that only 30 of the world’s 700 or so airlines would survive the crisis without government help was right on the nose.