Regional vice-president for Asia-Pacific Conrad Clifford said the global aviation industry, including that in Malaysia, was in a dire state, but that financial relief measures could help sustain airlines and avoid massive losses of jobs supported by the sector.

He said costs such as airport tax, air navigation service provider charges and fuel fees across the supply chain should be kept low for airlines to achieve full growth potential.

“We call on governments to intervene because there is a real risk that airlines will fail, particularly the medium- and smaller-sized carriers, as we go into 2021.

“We need direct assistance to carriers as fast as possible,” he said at a media briefing on the impact of the pandemic on the aviation sector in the Asia-Pacific region today.

Clifford said a consolidation of airlines within the same country was more likely to happen compared with a cross-border consolidation due to differences in rules and regulations.

Meanwhile, IATA regional director of airports and external relations for Asia-Pacific, Vinoop Goel, said the net losses of Asia-Pacific airlines were expected to narrow to US$7.5 billion (RM30.6 billion) against US$31.7 billion estimated for this year.

He said although there would be some growth in passenger numbers, the recovery in 2021 would not be able to compensate for the reduction in 2020.

The short- and medium-haul markets with under 5,500km routes would make a faster recovery compared with the long-haul routes, he said, adding that border reopening with testing instead of quarantine would be the key to enable travel.

IATA is a trade association for the world’s airlines.