The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) said the coronavirus has so far cost the aviation industry as much as US$36 billion just in March with travel restrictions due to the pandemic continuing to ground flights worldwide.

ICAO reported that it worked with 36 other organisations, including UN agencies, developmental banks and other organisations of the Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities to produce a report that provides a wide range of statistics on the ways the COVID-19 crisis is impacting various industries including aviation. 

On the airline side, the major impacts include the grounding of 90% of global commercial airline fleet by early April, and a global traffic decline of 54% year-on-year in March 2020, a fall of 196 million passengers.

The global capacity has also dropped 38% as passenger traffic in Asia-Pacific declined by 85 million and 50 million in European markets. In terms of passenger traffic in North America, ICAO said it also recorded a decline of 35 million passengers for the North American market.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted aviation, putting an industry that relies on being able to transport people and goods around the globe, under extreme strain," ICAO said.

"With 90% of the world’s fleet grounded and almost no demand, the reduction in travel has far exceeded the levels observed during SARS and the terror attacks of 11 September 2001," it added.

ICAO said based on the data it gathered, global cargo tonnage declined of 792,000 tonnes.

Airline revenue also dropped US$28 billion and airport revenue fell by US$8 billion.