Demand for air travel globally finished 2020 down 65.9% from 2019, according to IATA.
Demand for cross-border flights was down 75.6%, while domestic flying in countries around the world plunged 48.8%.
IATA, which measures demand based upon the distance flown by paying passengers, labeled 2020 the worst year in history for air travel.
"Last year was a catastrophe. There is no other way to describe it," IATA director general Alexandre de Juniac said in a prepared statement Wednesday. "What recovery there was over the Northern Hemisphere summer season stalled in autumn, and the situation turned dramatically worse over the year-end holiday season as more severe travel restrictions were imposed in the face of new outbreaks and new strains of Covid-19."
In North America, demand for international flying was down 75.4% in 2020, compared with 2019, while the capacity flown by airlines fell 65.5%.
On domestic flights, U.S. airlines endured a 59.6% drop in demand while offering 41.4% less capacity than 2019. IATA defines capacity by the number of seat miles airlines fly.
IATA is currently forecasting that demand will improve 50.4% this year, which would still bring it to just 50.6% of the 2019 level.
"[T]here is a severe downside risk if more severe travel restrictions in response to new variants persist," the trade group warned. "Should such a scenario materialize, demand improvement could be limited to just 13% over 2020 levels, leaving the industry at 38% of 2019 levels."