Forward Keys travel intentions April 2020

A short piece of analysis that endeavours to demonstrate just how sharp a decline there has been in demand for air travel and the supply of seat capacity but offering some cause for hope through demonstrating that consumers are still going online in order to search out information regarding potential future air travel. 

The study finds that globally air arrivals in the first four months of 2020 were tracking at only half their equivalent 2019 volumes and that with 90% of flights grounded this situation would deteriorate further at least in the near term. 

As at the second half of April flight bookings were 87% down on the same position of 2019 indicating that even if all supply resumed immediately demand would take some time to catch up.   

Where the report paints a more optimistic picture is in its analysis of flight searches, showing that across a number of markets searches for flights in the second half of the year were tracking ahead of levels seen twelve months previously.  A note of caution is perhaps required in that some searching may have been a result of those whose travels in spring or early summer had been unexpectedly cancelled and who had accepted a future travel voucher. 

Link to Forward Keys report on travel intentions April 2020