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air transport deep in the red
Nicosia: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced
a revised outlook for the global air transport industry with losses of 4.7 billion
dollars in 2009. This forecast is significantly worse than IATA's December forecast
of a 2.5 billion dollars loss in 2009, reflecting the rapid deterioration of global
economic conditions. IATA expects industry revenue to fall by 12 per cent to 467
billion dollars. Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's CEO, said: "The state of the airline
industry today is grim. Demand has deteriorated much more rapidly with the economic
slowdown than could have been anticipated even a few months ago. Our loss forecast
for 2009 is now 4.7 billion dollars. Combined with an industry debt of 170 billion
dollars, the pressure on the industry balance sheet is extreme." Passenger traffic
is expected to contract by 5.7 per cent over the year and revenue will further
suffer as a result of a sharper fall in premium traffic. Moreover, cargo demand
is expected to decline by 13 per cent. IATA points out that falling fuel prices
are helping to curb even larger losses. The industry's fuel bill is expected to
drop 25 per cent of operating costs, compared with 32 per cent in 2008. Regional
differences remain significant and the Middle East is expected to be the only
region with a demand growth in 2009, at 1.2 per cent. However, this could be overshadowed
by the impact of a 3.8 per cent increase in capacity. -Apr
23, 2009
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