More gloomy news for the airlines
GENEVA – New figures from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reveal the extent of the slowdown in demand for air transport.
The rapidly worsening outlook is spread across all regions with IATA director general and CEO Giovanni Bisignani warning, “With consumer and business confidence falling and sky-high oil prices, the situation will get a lot worse.â€
Middle Eastern carriers saw their traffic growth slow to 9.6 percent in June from 12.8 percent in May, which is sharply down from the 18.1 percent recorded in June 2007.
Asia Pacific airlines saw their international passenger traffic growth fall to 3.2 percent in June from 4.5 percent in May, influenced by weakening long haul destination economies and inflation concerns.
Overall, passenger demand growth fell to 3.8 percent, the lowest level since 2003. Passenger load factors dropped to 77.6 percent, 1.2 percentage points below the 78.8 percent recorded for June 2007.
“Although the passenger demand grew by 3.8 percent, this is the slowest growth that we have seen since the industry was hit by the SARS crisis in 2003,†said Bisignani.
North American airlines saw demand growth drop to 4.4 percent, sharply down from the 8.2 percent growth recorded in May. Domestic traffic in the US contracted by almost 4 percent.
European airlines saw demand drop to 2.1 percent (compared to 4.1 percent in May). Declines in business confidence and industrial production in key European economies may well drive this further down, said IATA.
Ian Jarrett
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