The main global airlines estimate the achievement of the operational capacity recorded in the pre-pandemic era only in 2024. The most optimistic believe that next year the volume of passengers transported in 2019 will also be exceeded. The most skeptical, however, think that the full recovery will be achieved later. In any case, it will be a tortuous path, made up of steps forward and backward. 

The estimate is confirmed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which predicts that the number of global travelers will reach 4 billions in 2024, more or less the same level recorded in 2019. This extension of recovery times (five years) is linked to various factors: lack of personnel (fired, early retired, not hired during the pandemic); sudden increase in travel demand; delays in the delivery of new aircraft. 

A situation that only in Europe caused flight cancellations to increase by +90% in the month of March (over 14,000 according to Cirium analysts). There are also contingent phenomena such as changes in route and flight frequencies, caused by the Russo-Ukrainian war, which benefited the Middle East, Africa and South America. Nonetheless, the balance sheets of the main airlines return to register profits.