BY Monica Mark - WSJ 2/27/09
London - The slump in international passenger and freight travel deepened in January for the third consecutive month - outweighing the benefits of lower fuel prices and airline-capacity cuts. And the downturn will continue, the International Air Transport Association said.
Passenger traffic declined 5.6% from a year earlier, compared with a 4.6% drop in December. Cargo markets continued an "alarming"slump, down 23%, the association said.
"Alarm bells are ringing everywhere. The industry is in a global crisis and we have not yet seen the bottom," IATA Chief Executive Giovanni Bisignani said Thursday.
The IATA, which represents about 230 airlines constituting 93% of global scheduled air traffic, kept its forecast for global airline losses this year. It expects revenues to fall to $500 billion, down $35 billion, leading to a $2.5 billion loss for the industry.
Mr. Bisignani again called on governments to reduce regulatory-tax burdens on airlines - singling out the U.K. for a planned increase in air-passenger duty and the Netherlands for its planned departure tax - and to remove laws that hinder cross-border and cross-region takeovers.
Asian carriers, which represent around two fifths of the global cargo market, led January's fall, reporting a 28% drop.
IATA said the overall cargo market will contract further as manufacturers continued to shed inventory and cut production.
Asia also led the decline in passenger demand with an 8.4% year-on-year drop in January.
North American and European passenger-traffic demand declined 6.2% and 5.7%, respectively. Latin America saw a 1.4% fall, while demand in Africa fell 2.6% in January.
The Middle East was the only region where traffic rose, climbing 3.1%. This was well below double-digit traffic growth and a 10.8% expansion in capacity last year.
London - The slump in international passenger and freight travel deepened in January for the third consecutive month - outweighing the benefits of lower fuel prices and airline-capacity cuts. And the downturn will continue, the International Air Transport Association said.
Passenger traffic declined 5.6% from a year earlier, compared with a 4.6% drop in December. Cargo markets continued an "alarming"slump, down 23%, the association said.
"Alarm bells are ringing everywhere. The industry is in a global crisis and we have not yet seen the bottom," IATA Chief Executive Giovanni Bisignani said Thursday.
The IATA, which represents about 230 airlines constituting 93% of global scheduled air traffic, kept its forecast for global airline losses this year. It expects revenues to fall to $500 billion, down $35 billion, leading to a $2.5 billion loss for the industry.
Mr. Bisignani again called on governments to reduce regulatory-tax burdens on airlines - singling out the U.K. for a planned increase in air-passenger duty and the Netherlands for its planned departure tax - and to remove laws that hinder cross-border and cross-region takeovers.
Asian carriers, which represent around two fifths of the global cargo market, led January's fall, reporting a 28% drop.
IATA said the overall cargo market will contract further as manufacturers continued to shed inventory and cut production.
Asia also led the decline in passenger demand with an 8.4% year-on-year drop in January.
North American and European passenger-traffic demand declined 6.2% and 5.7%, respectively. Latin America saw a 1.4% fall, while demand in Africa fell 2.6% in January.
The Middle East was the only region where traffic rose, climbing 3.1%. This was well below double-digit traffic growth and a 10.8% expansion in capacity last year.
