2009: The year that mauled the airline industry
GENEVA – The figures are in and they confirm that 2009 was a horrible year for the airline industry.
IATA reported December and full-year 2009 demand statistics for international scheduled air traffic that showed the industry ending 2009 with the largest ever post-war decline.
Passenger demand for the full year was down 3.5% with an average load factor of 75.6
“In terms of demand, 2009 goes into the history books as the worst year the industry has ever seen. We have permanently lost 2.5 years of growth in passenger markets and 3.5 years of growth in the freight business,†said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s director general and CEO.
International passenger capacity fell 0.7% in December 2009.
Yields have started to improve with tighter supply-demand conditions in recent months, but they remained 5-10% down on 2008 levels.
“Revenue improvements will be at a much slower pace than the demand growth that we are starting to see. Profitability will be even slower to recover and airlines will lose an expected US$5.6 billion in 2010,†said Bisignani.
Seasonally adjusted demand figures for December compared to November 2009 indicate a 1.6% rise in passenger traffic.
Ian Jarrett
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