On Tuesday, the 24th of March 2020, International Air Transport Association (IATA), the Toronto-based aviation industry trade body founded back in the 1945s having 290 airlines across 120 countries, had urged Governments to speed up rescue packages as the world’s largest aviation industry trade body, IATA, had doubled up its projected losses to $250 billion in aviation industry revenues in 2020, while a majority of global airlines had been forced to ground their fleets as countries were rushing on to border lockdown measures to slow down the spread of the coronavirus which had infected 42,342 people and killed 2,290 over the past 24 hours.
Besides, as the global aviation industry has been facing off a double-edged sword of a swathe of travel restrictions coupled with a plunge in demand due to the coronavirus outbreak, airliners were bracing for a scenario where they might not be able to fly for months, while Europe’s largest airline by passengers’ numbers, Ryanair said in a statement on Tuesday (March 24th) that it was unlikely to begin operation in April or May.
Meanwhile, citing that nearly a half of the world’s airliners would not be able to weather such a hammering blow and could face bankruptcy over the coming weeks, IATA Director General, de Juniac said to the reporters on Tuesday (March 24th), “We clearly need massive action very quickly and urgently.
We have a liquidity crisis coming at full speed - no revenues and costs still on our (books), so we desperately need some cash. We are in an emergency situation. It’s no time for requirements. I’m sorry for that. We need a full speed massive rescue package now.”
This article originally appeared on Financial World.
