International Air Transport Association (IATA) has revealed that US President Joe Biden’s removal of the ‘Muslim Ban’ will drive passenger traffic on air routes of the countries that were included in the ban.
The controversial ban was introduced during Trump’s first week in office and blocked travel to the United States from several predominantly Muslim and African countries, including Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Somalia.
In 2020, the ban was extended to include restrictions on permanent immigration for people from six other countries, including Sudan and Nigeria
The policy followed Trump’s pledge on his campaign trail in which he called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”
According to IATA, the new administration regulations will be “light” and supportive of the airline industry as it goes through its worst crisis in history. And that they hope it will help to create more traffic opportunities in the aviation industry.
US is by far the largest air travel market in the world with 3 million passengers flying in and out of the country every day in pre-COVID times. US airlines had a total revenue of around $248 billion in 2019 – nearly a third of the total commercial airlines revenue that year.