Morocco’s Aviation Industry Faces $4.9 Billion Economic Hit from COVID Flight Suspensions

In a report on the Middle East and North Africa region, IATA states that the health crisis has caused a decrease in air passenger traffic of around 11 million passengers for Morocco, reports Hespress. As a result, this drop in the number of air travelers leads to a loss of revenue for Morocco of around $1.7 billion, or 17 billion dirhams, in addition to the threat of 499,000 jobs related to the sector.

In the entire MENA region, the expected revenue losses in the aviation sector, the same report specifies, will amount to $24 billion, in addition to the impact of 1.2 million jobs in the sector and its related sectors. As for the number of passengers, it will decrease by 51% this year.

With a possible loss of 35 million passengers, Saudi Arabia is the country whose air traffic is the most affected by the coronavirus, followed by the United Arab Emirates (about 31 million passengers), Egypt (13 million travelers), Algeria (5.8 million) and Tunisia (4.3 million).

IATA also forecasts a 314 billion dollar drop in global airline revenues in 2020; which will represent a 55% decrease compared to 2019.