Alarming drop in air traffic – IATA
Contributors are not employed, compensated or governed by TD, opinions and statements are from the contributor directly
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced global international traffic results for September, with passenger traffic, cargo traffic and load factors falling across the board. The unexpectedly poor results led IATA’s Director General and CEO, Giovanni Bisignani, to rethink already gloomy calculations for industry losses in 2008.
“The deterioration in traffic is alarmingly fast-paced and widespread. We have not seen such a decline in passenger traffic since SARS in 2003,” Bisignani said. “Even the good news that the oil price has fallen to half its July peak is not enough to offset the impact of the drop in demand. At this rate, losses may be even deeper than our forecast US$5.2 billion for this year.”
Globally, passenger traffic declined 2.9% year-on-year, while international load factors fell by 4.4% percentage points from August. Asia Pacific saw the most significant drop in international passenger numbers, with a 6.8% year-on-year decline. Meanwhile results from the Middle East were equally concerning; a 2.8% fall in passenger traffic followed years of double-digit growth, in a market that was seen to be almost impervious to the global downturn.
“The industry crisis is deepening,” Bisignani continued. “Airlines, like all other businesses, are facing enormous challenges. But unlike other companies, they are denied some basic commercial freedoms – access to markets and to global capital – that could help them manage their business in this difficult time.”
IATA has taken the extraordinary step of engaging 15 governments in talks on the regulatory structure of international air transport. IATA circulated a paper among the governments examining solutions that could be quickly implemented to expand opportunities for access to markets and to global capital.
Comments are closed.