Airlines
For Now, Covid Remains a Bigger Drag on Air Transport than War
IATA says the fall-out from Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been relatively limited, with the exception of rising fuel prices and risks to leasing assets.

The lingering effect of the Covid pandemic, for now, is proving more of a drag on air transport recovery than the fallout from the war between Russia and Ukraine, according to IATA’s chief economist Marie Owens Thomsen. “We’ve not seen a massive impact from the war yet [on traffic and demand levels],” she told an April 6 media briefing, while acknowledging some market shifts, such as flights being re-routed to avoid closed airspace, a move that seems to have benefitted the Middle East air transport sector.