The International Air Transport Association (Iata) said Global airlines are likely to narrow annual losses by 70 percent in 2022 amid an uneven recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, though the total financial hit from the crisis has ballooned to $201 billion.

The industry will lose $11.6 billion in 2022, down from a $51.8 billion loss in 2021, the industry body said at its annual general meeting in Boston on Monday. However, the loss for 2021 deteriorated from an earlier prediction in April of $126.4bn.

Global carriers will bear total accumulative losses of $201 billion in the period between 2020 to 2022, as a result of the pandemic that brought the entire travel industry to a grinding halt, Iata said.

“The magnitude of the Covid-19 crisis for airlines is enormous,” Willie Walsh, Iata’s director general, told the in-person gathering of airline chief executives.

“To survive, airlines have dramatically cut costs and adapted their business to whatever opportunities were available,” he said.

“We are well past the deepest point of the crisis. While serious issues remain, the path to recovery is coming into view. Aviation is showing its resilience yet again.”

The air cargo business is performing well, and domestic travel will near pre-crisis levels in 2022.

“The challenge is international markets which remain severely depressed as government-imposed restrictions continue,” Walsh said.

Total passenger numbers are expected to reach 2.3 billion in 2021 and grow to 3.4 billion next year, which is similar to 2014 levels and significantly below the 4.5 billion travellers of 2019, Iata estimates.

Demand for air cargo is expected to continue, with 2021 demand at 7.9 per cent above 2019 levels, growing to 13.2 per cent above 2019 levels for 2022.