Passengers watch inflight entertainment during a flight from Los Angeles International Airport. A rebound in global airline capacity should accelerate in the second half of next year, but trans-Atlantic traffic likely won’t return to pre-pandemic levels until 2023, according to an aviation consulting firm. Additionally, airfares are poised to rise significantly next year, owing to higher costs from labor and addressing environmental issues , “plus the need for airlines to rebuild their balance sheets,” said Richard Evans, a senior consultant at Cirium. The U.K. firm released its 2022 aviation forecast on Wednesday. Airlines borrowed heavily in 2020 to withstand the downturn from the Covid-19 pandemic, with traffic declining more than 80% in most markets. Globally, Cirium predicts that airline capacity as measured by seat miles per kilometer will rise 47% next year, putting the industry back at its 2015 levels for the year. For North America, the company forecasts […]