The International Air Transport Association (IATA), the global representative body for the airline industry, has announced that its 2022 World Financial Symposium (WFS) will be focused on “reshaping airline resilience”. The WFS will take place next month in Doha, Qatar, and will be hosted by Qatar Airways.

The global airline industry recorded total losses of $180-billion during 202/21. The Covid-19 pandemic was the biggest shock ever suffered by the commercial aviation sector. But now, with travel barriers being dismantled in most parts of the world, total losses this year are expected to be massively less, at $9.7-billion. Profitability could return to the sector next year. Pre-Covid-19 air traffic levels should be reached in 2024.

“Airlines are resilient,” highlighted IATA director-general Willie Walsh. “Now is the time to build on the hard work and difficult restructurings of the past two years to seize opportunities coming out of the crisis. Finance will play a vital role in supporting this ongoing recovery while creating a sustainable capital structure to support our ambitious environment agenda.”

To stay afloat during the crisis created by the pandemic, airlines had to borrow money. As a consequence, their debt levels have shot up. Financing and repaying this debt will be a major issue in the coming years. On top of this, airlines will have to fund their transition to net-zero carbon emissions operations by 2050.

There will be seven main sessions at WFS 2022. These will be – achieving net-zero by 2050; environmental, social and governance reporting and trends in sustainable finance; financial risk management; “fulfilment and settlement in a world of airline offers and orders”; the route to airline retailing and “customer centricity”; the way ahead for airline payments and “payments as a value creator”; and understanding and getting ready for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s ‘Base Erosion and Profit Shifting 2.0’ anti-tax avoidance measures.

“We are honoured to be hosting the first in-person WFS since 2019 during our milestone twenty-fifth year of operations,” affirmed Qatar Airways Group CE Akbar Al Baker. “This vital symposium will bring together financial leaders from airlines and our many supply chain partners to discuss and debate the path forward and the challenges to be overcome.”