The whole world has been drastically affected by the pandemic. Europe and Africa both suffered a 93% fall in connectivity; connectivity of cities like Bangkok and Hong Kong dropped by 81%.
The global economy is threatened by the international air connectivity crisis, too, as there are usually 88 million jobs and $3.5 trillion in GDP supported by aviation. “At least 46 million jobs supported by air transport are in peril, “said Sebastian Mikosz, spokesman for IATA.
Now the first four most connected cities can be found in China (Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu), where the air travel within the country has broadly recovered.
Over the last two decades the number of cities linked by air more than doubled. On the other hand, the costs by approximately 50%. As Mr Mikosz added: "Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the growth in air connectivity was a global success story."
IATA says the pandemic has "undone a century of progress" for connectivity between cities; thus, it is yet to see how the air travel recovers.