The International Air Transport Association, IATA has urged European governments to ease COVID-19 restrictions.
The European market has seen increases in the number of flights in recent months, with carriers pushing forward to try and get 50 percent of their summer network back before the end of September. But, the flights are still more than 50 percent below the same period, compare to 2019 summer.
The mean problem facing airlines is the constant uncertainty from the countries on the restriction and rules they will bring in and remove to stem a second wave of the pandemic.
For this reason, any fixed plans for recovery are all but made impossible. This has made many airlines make swift changes in their businesses, closing bases, delaying orders, and reducing the workforce with thousands of pilots and cabin crew being made redundant.
Rafael Shvartzman, IATA's Regional Vice President for Europe said, "it is desperately worrying to see a further decline in prospects for air travel this year, and the knock-on impact for employment and prosperity."
"It shows once again the terrible effect that is being felt by families across Europe as border restrictions and quarantine continue. Government and industry must work together to create a harmonized plan for reopening borders."
With such an impact on the aviation industry, the effect will spread to additional industry sectors such as travel and tourism.
IATA is calling for European countries to make a more unified effort to help control the damage, with a co-operative format that would allow for less disruption with plans to open up borders.
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