The International Air Transport Association has released data for November 2023 air travel performance, revealing that air travel demand has reached 99% of 2019 levels.
DALLAS — The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released data for November 2023 air travel performance, revealing that air travel demand has reached 99% of 2019 levels. Here are the key findings:
According to Willie Walsh, the Director General of IATA, the rapid recovery of the aviation industry from the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of flying for both individuals and businesses. As aviation recovers, governments have recognized the need to transition from traditional jet fuel to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to reduce carbon emissions.
The Director General mentioned that, at the Third Conference on Aviation Alternative Fuels (CAAF/3) in November, governments agreed on the target of achieving 5% carbon savings by 2030 through the use of SAF. This commitment was further reinforced at COP28 in December, where governments agreed on the necessity of transitioning away from fossil fuels to mitigate the severe impacts of climate change.
Airlines are fully committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and have already been actively purchasing and using every available drop of SAF, said Walsh. However, the current production of SAF is insufficient to meet demand. Therefore, in 2024, the head of IATA expects that governments will take concrete actions and implement comprehensive policy measures to incentivize and facilitate the rapid scaling-up of SAF production.
Featured image: World-class airline aircraft taxi. Photo: Johann Heske/Airways
David H. Stringer, the History Editor for AIRWAYS Magazine, has chronicled the story of the commercial aviation industry with his airline history articles that have appeared in AIRWAYS over two decades. Here, for the first time, is a compilation of those articles.
Subjects A through C are presented in this first of three volumes. Covering topics such as the airlines of Alaska at the time of statehood and Canada's regional airlines of the 1960s, the individual histories of such carriers as Allegheny, American, Braniff, and Continental are also included in Volume One. Get your copy today!