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Nigeria, others could lose 3.5m aviation jobs, $35bn to COVID-19 this year —IATA

The weight of the coronavirus crisis on air travel could cost the Nigerian and other African economies 3.5 million aviation jobs, triggering a contraction of continental Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by $35 billion in 2020, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Wednesday.
Until the pandemic outbreak, aviation’s contribution to African labour force and GDP topped 6.2 million jobs and $56 billion respectively.
In its commentary on aviation business in Africa and the Middle East, the IATA noted that air traffic in Africa and the Middle East witnessed the most fall of all regions in July relative to 2019 levels, with passenger traffic crashing by as much as 93.7% year on year.
It recommended that testing be adopted in place of widespread quarantine measures as the two regions reopened their economies in order to revitalise aviation operations.
Between August and now, the number of countries that had embraced quarantine measures leapt from 7 to 35, causing bigger disruption to air travel, the IATA said.
“The impact is that the region effectively remains in lockdown despite borders being open. Recent public opinion research showed that 88% of travellers would not even consider traveling if quarantine measures were imposed on travellers at their destination,” the Montreal-based association said on its website.
IATA’s Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East, Muhammad Albakri disclosed that testing offered a more preferable option to quarantine, noting its capacity to put a stopper to the grievous socio-economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Mandatory quarantine measures stop people from traveling. We understand that governments’ priority is on protecting the well–being of their citizens. Quarantine destroys livelihoods. Testing is an alternative method that will also save travel and tourism jobs,” he added.
In July, IATA declared that Airlines in Nigeria suffered $2.09 billion slump in revenue in April and June as carriers in the country grapple with shutdown of the airspace and curbs on air travel disrupt operations in the global aviation market in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak.
In a report named “Quarantine measures threaten aviation restart in Africa and the Middle East,” stated that the aviation industry was worst impacted by the economic crisis of all the sectors in Africa and the Middle East region.
According to the report which did not supply trend data for May, 8.6 million jobs were threatened while several thousands are already lost.
In Nigeria, passenger traffic plunged by 4.7 million in April and 5.32 million in June relative to the same periods of 2019.
125,400 aviation and aviation-supported jobs were imperilled in April while the figure for June was higher at 139,500.
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