Asian airlines carried a combined 17 million international passengers in February, 43.9 per cent fewer than a year earlier. The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) put out the preliminary numbers on Thursday.
The other gauges were weaker too. Revenue passenger kilometres fell 34.8 per cent. Available seat capacity dropped 20.6 per cent.
AAPA Director General Andrew Herdman pinned the plunge on the rapid spread of COVID-19. Governments around the world had brought in sudden travel restrictions, he said, and the result was widespread disruption to airline operations.
Taken over the first two months of the year, the damage looks smaller but is still heavy. The number of people flying on Asian airlines fell 21 per cent, to 50 million.
Herdman described the pandemic as an unprecedented challenge for the industry. A few governments had moved fast with financial support, he said, yet far more was needed if the airlines were to avoid permanent damage.
India shows what the restrictions looked like
India was one of the countries tightening its borders as the report came out. Its government had suspended all visas, banned travel from Afghanistan, the Philippines, the EU, the UK, China and Malaysia, and required a 14-day quarantine for arrivals from several other countries. A nationwide lockdown was in force until April 14.
It also shut the border with Pakistan and limited the movement of passengers at its borders with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar.
At home, more than 649 people had tested positive, with Maharashtra the hardest hit at 124 cases. Thirteen deaths had been recorded. Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Assam, Delhi, Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir had each declared the disease an epidemic and closed schools, monuments, parks, gyms, swimming pools and pubs, and banned large gatherings.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a relief package worth Rs 1.7 lakh crore on Thursday for the poor and others hit by the outbreak, under the Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Yojana scheme.
