April global air demand was 65.4 percent lower than its pre-crisis level in April 2019, according to the International Air Transport Association, a comparative improvement from March, which was 66.9 percent lower than 2019. April capacity dropped 54.5 percent from April 2019 levels, an improvement from March's 56.3 percent drop. April load factor dropped 19.8 percentage points from 2019 to 63.3 percent.
Month-over-month performance improvement was due largely to an improved domestic air demand, according to IATA, though April 2021 demand was 25.7 percent lower than April 2019. All key domestic markets except Brazil and India showed improvement compared with March 2021, with both China and Russia reporting traffic growth from pre-pandemic levels. IATA reported U.S. travel demand as continuing to "strengthen" and expects " a full recovery by the end of this year or early 2022." April 2021 U.S. load factor fell 10.4 percentage points from 2019 to 73.4 percent. Capacity dropped 15.3 percent from its April 2019 level.
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April 2021 crossborder traffic fell 87.3 percent compared with April 2019. IATA cited ongoing international travel restrictions as an anchor on crossborder traffic recovery. "International restrictions remain tight even in the regions where vaccination rollout progresses, such as North America and Europe," IATA said in a release. April 2021 capacity fell 76 percent compared with April 2019. Load factor dropped 39 percentage points to 43.8 percent.
Summer Expectations
Early bookings for the June to August period point to a revival in demand for summer travel, according to IATA. May bookings for trips one, two and three months forward were down 65 percent, 66 percent and 69 percent from May 2019, respectively, each of which were improvements from April 2021.
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