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* Forecast for lost 2020 airline revenue rises to $252 bln
* Previous IATA forecast was for $113 bln in revenue losses
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By Sarah Young and Laurence Frost
LONDON/PARIS, March 24 (Reuters) - Global airlines urged
governments on Tuesday to speed up bailouts to rescue the air
transport industry as they doubled their estimate of 2020
revenue losses from the coronavirus crisis to more than $250
billion.
"We clearly need massive action very quickly and urgently,"
Alexandre de Juniac, director general of the International Air
Transport Association (IATA), told reporters on a conference
call.
Airlines worldwide have grounded the majority of their
fleets to preserve cash amid mounting travel restrictions
designed to slow the spread of the epidemic.
The result has been huge pressure on the liquidity of
airlines, up to half of which face possible bankruptcy in coming
weeks if nothing is done to support the industry, IATA said.
"We have a liquidity crisis coming at full speed - no
revenues and costs still on our (books), so we desperately need
some cash," de Juniac said.
His warning came after Ryanair, Europe's largest
budget airline, told customers it had effectively written off
the next two months, while European air traffic management body
Eurocontrol said volumes on Monday were down more than 75% from
the same day last year.
De Juniac, a former Air France-KLM boss, brushed aside a
growing debate about whether relief for airlines should come
with strings attached, such as new commitments on climate goals.
But he said the airline industry would continue efforts
already under way to curb emissions once the crisis recedes.
"We are in an emergency situation. It's no time for
requirements. I'm sorry for that. We need a full speed massive
rescue package now," de Juniac said.
With airlines at the front of bailout queues, green
advocates fear climate action may lose momentum.
In the United States, Republicans have opposed providing
bailouts to passenger and cargo carriers, proposing help in the
form of $58 billion in loans and saying the government could
demand stock, options or other equity in return.
IATA, which groups some 280 airlines including most of the
world's largest network carriers, said signs of a deep recession
could delay a recovery in airline travel - in contrast with the
fast rebound seen after previous epidemics.
That could mean "more of a U-shaped than V-shaped recovery,"
Chief Economist Brian Pearce said, referring in the latter
instance to the shape of the graph of air travel indicators seen
after the SARS outbreak in 2003.
IATA says 2.7 million jobs are supported by the airline
industry, with tens of thousands already being furloughed.
"There are a very large number of airlines that are more or
less breaking even and ... facing losses. Those airlines are
very fragile," Pearce said.
(Reporting by Sarah Young, Laurence Frost; writing by Costas
Pitas, Tim Hepher; Editing by Paul Sandle, Mark Potter)
