WORK AND shopping have, for better or worse, been permanently altered by the pandemic. The airline industry hopes that its own covid-19 disruption proves temporary. Luckily for those deprived of holidays, visits to family and friends, or even the odd business trip, flying in 2022 will look a bit more like the pre-pandemic jet age—with differences between domestic and international routes, short-haul and long-haul ones, and east and west.
The numbers taking to the skies have risen steadily since March 2020, when the pandemic first grounded flights. Most forecasters expect that by 2024 as many passengers will fly as did in 2019. IATA, a trade body, reckons that 3.4bn people will buckle up in 2022. That is nearly double the number in 2020, though still some way shy of 2019, when 4.5bn took to the air.
Uncertainties remain, however, not least the pandemic. Consider the Omicron variant. Ed Bastian, boss of America’s Delta Air Lines, has described navigating the past few weeks as “hellacious”, after some 8,000 of his staff, about 10% of the total, contracted the virus. Crew shortages, tighter travel restrictions and bad weather conspired to force the cancellation of 60,000 flights worldwide between December 24th and January 3rd, calculates Cirium, an aviation-data firm. That corresponds to roughly one in every 40 flights. The…