ADB announces air passenger traffic situation in Azerbaijan

In Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) countries, air passenger traffic in 2020 decreased by 40 million people compared to 2019.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) statement on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on aviation and tourism in CAREC countries said this. 11 countries, including Azerbaijan, are members of the ADB's CAREC program.

It represents about 1.3% of global passenger traffic and includes both local and foreign airlines.

The largest aviation market in CAREC is Pakistan, which accounts for a third of all passenger traffic in CAREC.

Kazakhstan is the second-largest aviation market in CAREC, accounting for a fifth of all passenger traffic.

Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Uzbekistan have similarly sized aviation markets, each accounting for about 9% of total CAREC passenger traffic. The remaining five CAREC countries—Afghanistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan—have smaller markets that account for between 3% and 5% of the total CAREC air transport market. This study projects that CAREC countries will experience a passenger traffic reduction of 54%–81% in 2020.

Countries relying heavily on international traffic and particularly international tourism, will have a more significant decline than countries with bigger domestic markets and smaller tourism industries. Kazakhstan and Pakistan have the most extensive domestic markets and therefore are proportionately less impacted.

In 2019, air traffic in CAREC countries was 74 million. In 2020, the domestic passenger traffic by air in Azerbaijan decreased by 50% compared to 2019 and amounted to 300,000. Besides, international passenger traffic decreased by 4.9 times to 900,000 people.