When Will Air Travel Return to Pre-Pandemic Levels?
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When Will Air Travel Return to Pre-Pandemic Levels?

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when will air travel return to pre-pandemic levels?

When Will Air Travel Return to Pre-Pandemic Levels?

Many industries were hit hard by the global pandemic, but it can be argued that air travel suffered one of the most severe blows.

The aviation industry as a whole suffered an estimated $370 billion loss in global revenue because of COVID-19. And while air travel has been slowly recovering from the trough, flight passenger traffic has yet to fully bounce back.

Where is the industry at in 2022 compared to pre-COVID times, and when is air passenger travel expected to return to regular levels? This graphic by Julie R. Peasley uses data from IATA to show current and projected air passenger ridership.

Air Travel Traffic: 2021 and 2022

After an incredibly difficult 2020, the airline industry started to see significant improvements in travel frequency. But compared to pre-pandemic levels, there’s a lot of ground to cover.

In 2021, overall passenger numbers only reached 47% of 2019 levels. This influx was largely driven by domestic travel, with international passenger numbers only reaching 27% of pre-COVID levels.

Passenger numbers (% of 2019)20212022
International27%69%
Domestic61%93%
Africa46%76%
Asia Pacific40%68%
Caribbean44%72%
Central America72%96%
Europe40%86%
Middle East42%81%
North America56%94%
South America51%88%
Industry-wide47%83%

From a regional perspective, Central America experienced one of the fastest recoveries. In 2021, overall passenger numbers in the region had reached 72% of 2019 levels, and they are projected to reach 96% by the end of 2022.

In fact, the Americas as a whole has seen a quick recovery. Both North America and South America also reached above 50% of 2019 ridership in 2021, and are projected to reach 94% and 88% ridership in 2022, respectively.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Asia Pacific has experienced the slowest recovery. This is likely due to stricter lockdowns and travel restrictions put into effect in this region (which was harder hit by SARS in 2003), especially in places like Shanghai.

Forecasting Traffic in 2023 and Beyond

While recovery has looked different from region to region, airlines are largely expected to see a full recovery to their ridership levels by 2025.

Forecasted Passengers (% of 2019)202320242025
International82%92%101%
Domestic103%111%118%
Africa85%93%101%
Asia Pacific84%97%109%
Caribbean82%92%101%
Central America102%109%115%
Europe96%105%111%
Middle East90%98%105%
North America102%107%112%
South America97%103%108%
Industry-wide94%103%111%

This recovery is a signifier of a much broader mindset shift, as governments continue to reassess their COVID-19 management strategies.

But while the future seems promising, IATA stressed that the forecast does not take into account the potential impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and other geopolitical concerns, which could have far-reaching consequences on the global economy (and travel) in the coming years.

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This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.

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Mapped: The World’s Top Financial Centers in 2025

See which cities are dominating global finance in this 2025 ranking of the world’s top financial centers.

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Mapped: The World’s Top Financial Centers in 2025

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Key Takeaways

  • The 37th edition of the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI 37) ranks the competitiveness of 119 financial hubs
  • Little has changed at the top of the index, with New York, London, and Hong Kong continuing their long-standing dominance

Financial centers are a core pillar of the modern economy, channeling capital, facilitating trade, and driving innovation across the world.

In this graphic, we visualized the world’s top 40 most competitive financial centers, using data from the 37th edition of the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI 37).

Data & Methodology

The GFCI 37 was compiled using 140 quantitative measures from sources like the World Bank, OECD, and UN.

These measures are combined with assessments collected by respondents to the GFCI online questionnaire. In total, the GFCI 37 used 31,314 assessments from 4,946 respondents.

The data we used to create this graphic is listed below.

CityGFCI 37 RankGFCI 37 Rating
🇺🇸 New York1769
🇬🇧 London2762
🇭🇰 Hong Kong3760
🇸🇬 Singapore4750
🇺🇸 San Francisco5749
🇺🇸 Chicago6746
🇺🇸 Los Angeles7745
🇨🇳 Shanghai8744
🇨🇳 Shenzhen9743
🇰🇷 Seoul10742
🇩🇪 Frankfurt11741
🇦🇪 Dubai12740
🇺🇸 Washington DC13739
🇮🇪 Dublin14738
🇨🇭 Geneva15737
🇱🇺 Luxembourg16736
🇫🇷 Paris17735
🇳🇱 Amsterdam18734
🇺🇸 Boston19733
🇨🇳 Beijing20732
🇨🇭 Zurich21731
🇯🇵 Tokyo22730
🇨🇦 Toronto23729
🇰🇷 Busan24728
🇯🇪 Jersey25727
🇺🇸 Miami26726
🇨🇦 Montreal27725
🇦🇺 Melbourne28724
🇬🇧 Edinburgh29723
🇦🇺 Sydney30722
🇨🇦 Vancouver31721
🇬🇧 Glasgow32720
🇨🇭 Lugano33719
🇨🇳 Guangzhou34718
🇨🇳 Qingdao35717
🇺🇸 San Diego36716
🇩🇪 Berlin37715
🇦🇪 Abu Dhabi38714
🇨🇳 Chengdu39713
🇯🇵 Osaka40712

Areas of Competitiveness

The quantitative factors used in the GFCI model are grouped into five areas of competitiveness:

  • Business environment: Transparency and stability of systems, regulatory complexity
  • Human capital: Access to skill professionals, investment in education
  • Infrastructure: Quality of physical and digital infrastructure
  • Financial sector development: Accessibility to clients, development of digital solutions
  • Reputation: Trustworthiness of legal and regulatory systems
  • Regional Insights

    We’ve summarized the main highlights from each GFCI region below.

    North America

    North America has four centers in the top 10: New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles. The most improved within North America are Miami and Vancouver, which both climbed over 10 places in the ranking.

    Western Europe

    London is the region’s dominant center, with seven other cities featuring in the top 20. The average rating across Western Europe increased by 2.14%.

    Asia Pacific

    Asia Pacific has six centers in the top 20, with four belonging to China (Hong Kong SAR, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Beijing). Looking elsewhere, Hangzhou, New Delhi, Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City, and Manila all rose six or more places.

    Middle East & Africa

    The region’s leading centers are Dubai and Abu Dhabi, with Dubai climbing four places to 12th in GFCI 37. Meanwhile, Tel Aviv, Kuwait City, and Johannesburg each fell more than 10 places.

    Latin America & The Caribbean

    São Paulo rose seven places this year, making it the leading financial center in the region.

    Learn More on the Voronoi App

    If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Billion Dollar Companies by Country in 2025 on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

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