NNA - A sharp bounce-back in air travel from the pandemic will allow global airlines to narrow losses this year and possibly claw their way back to profit in 2023, an industry body said as it upgraded widely watched forecasts on Monday.

Global airlines are now expected to post a $9.7 billion loss in 2022, in a sharp improvement from a revised $42.1 billion loss in 2021, the International Air Transport Association said.

The 2022 forecast is nearly $2 billion better than an earlier expectation of a $11.6 billion loss.

Last year's losses also improve on an earlier forecast of $52 billion, though airlines meeting in Qatar bave been warned high oil prices and inflation risk denting the fragile recovery.

"Our industry is now leaner, tougher, and nimbler," IATA Director General Willie Walsh told an annual meeting of more than 100 airline leaders. "Industry-wide profit should be on the horizon in 2023," he added.

North America is expected to remain the strongest-performing region and the only one to post a profit in 2022, expected at $8.8 billion.—Reuters 

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