An Unimaginably Difficult Time For The Global Airline Industry | 全球航空业的艰难时刻

10月份，新冠病毒疫情对全球航空业持续进行着严重打击。在对航空公司财务前景的最新预测当中，IATA表示众航空公司在2020年下半年消耗的现金将达770美元（每分钟30万美元），而且在2022年以前现金流不会变成正数。

The depth and length of the impact of the COVD-19 pandemic on the air transport industry struck hard in October. In a grim update on the financial outlook for airlines, IATA said it expected them to burn through $77 billion in the second half of the year—or $300,000 per minute—and not become cash positive until 2022.

第二轮的病毒疫情袭击了欧洲和亚洲的某些地区，促使意大利、西班牙、英国和其他一些主要经济体的政府采取了更严厉的封锁政策并保持了边境关闭的状态。美国因在疫情中的死亡人数达21.万，是所有国家中最高的，而且美国许多州的病例数也在上升。

Second waves of the virus hit Europe and some parts of Asia, prompting governments in Italy, Spain the UK and other major economies to return to stronger lockdowns and border shutdowns. The number of deaths in the US passed 213,000, the highest of any country, and the number of cases was climbing in many states.

这一轮疫情袭来的结果是，全球乘客对航空旅行的需求大大降低，已经超过了疫情开始时的预期。更为严峻的是，许多针对航空公司的政府援助计划已经到期，其中包括约36个薪资支持计划。在疫情开始时，大多数政府对数月之后的情况都感到乐观，认为疫情援助计划到期时已经减弱，经济形势会好转，航空旅行也有所恢复，因此才实施了那些（为期数月的）援助计划。然而，在8月份航空旅行量与前一年相比仍然下降了75%，IATA预测到12月份仍然会比去年同期下降68%。

The result is a significantly lower demand for air travel for far longer than predicted when the pandemic began. Adding to the criticality of the situation, many government-aid packages for airlines, including some 36 payroll support programs, have expired. They were implemented when most governmentswere optimistic that the pandemic and economic situation would have improved by fall and demand for air travel would have recovered. Instead, air travel was down 75% in August versus a year ago and IATA forecasts it will still be down 68% by December.