BERLIN, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the number of passengers at German airports in 2020 dropped to the lowest level in almost 30 years, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced on Tuesday.

Around 57.8 million passengers arrived at, or departed from, the country's 24 largest commercial airports last year, a decline of 74.5 percent year-on-year, according to Destatis. In 2019, passenger numbers were still at a record high of 226.7 million.

International air traffic in January and February last year was still around the previous year's level. Then, "restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic had a major impact on air passenger traffic," Destatis noted.

While the number of passengers on European routes fell by 74 percent last year, "air traffic to the important destination countries such as the United States and China slumped at an above-average rate" of 80 and 88 percent respectively, according to Destatis.

Before the first major COVID-19 restrictions were imposed in Germany, domestic air traffic in January and February was already well below the figures of the previous year. Destatis said that domestic and international passenger numbers fell sharply in March and air traffic "came to an almost complete standstill" in April, May and June.

When restrictions were eased during the summer, passenger numbers consolidated at a low level, before gradually declining again, according to Destatis. Germany entered a second lockdown in November after the second COVID-19 wave hit the country.

"The German aviation industry was in a permanent lockdown for large parts of the year and is now close to a standstill," said Peter Gerber, president of the German Aviation Association (BDL), in a statement when the association published 2020 figures last week.

Currently, 60,000 of the 255,000 jobs in the German air transport industry were threatened by job losses, according to BDL. The association is expecting that the German aviation industry's pre-crisis level would probably not be reached again until 2025. Enditem