Global air traffic will not return to levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic until at least 2024, AFP quoted the International Air Transport Association as saying on Tuesday.

Uncertainty about the timing of border re-openings is the main factor, IATA's chief economist Brian Pearce told a news conference.

“We now are expecting 2019 levels not to be reached until 2024 which is a year later that what we had previously expected,” he said.

The outlook depends on how countries manage “to control the virus”, he said.