A Japan Airlines (JAL) Airbus A350 passenger aircraft takes off from Tokyo's Haneda airport on January 29, 2021. (Photo: AFP)

Global air passenger traffic plunged by an unprecedented 66 percent in 2020 due to travel restrictions imposed over the COVID-19 pandemic, an industry group said Wednesday.

The International Air Transport Association also warned that the emergence of new, more transmissible variants of the coronavirus were hurting the prospects for recovery this year.