COVID crisis will result in fewer airline companies: IATA airlines group head

FILE PHOTO: Social distancing sign is displayed at a check-in area for Southwest Airlines Co. at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on an unusually empty Memorial Day weekend during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Los Angeles, California, U.S., May 23, 2020. REUTERS/Patrick T. Fallon

The COVID-19 pandemic will result in fewer airline companies, as a result of firms being taken over or going under, said the head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on Friday.

"It is likely that the sector will come out of this crisis smaller than before, which is to say there will be fewer players, who will likely be smaller than before," he told BFM Business radio.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; editing by John Stonestreet)