Airlines could lose 63 to 113 billion U.S. dollars in revenue for passenger traffic globally in 2020, depending on how the coronavirus spreads, International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Thursday.

The last time the industry faced a revenue shock of this magnitude was in 2009 during the global financial crisis, IATA Chief Economist Brian Pearce said at a media briefing in Singapore.

The 63 billion U.S. dollars figure is for a scenario where the disease is contained in current markets with over 100 cases as of March 2, following a v-shaped recovery, IATA said.

The 113 billion U.S. dollars estimate is for a scenario with a broader spread of the disease.

The more dire prediction amounts to a 19 percent loss in worldwide passenger revenues, IATA noted. 

It was a far bleaker assessment than two weeks ago, when IATA forecast revenue losses would come in at 29.3 billion U.S. dollars.  

(Cover: VCG file photo)