IATA Reports On Airline Traffic

An airline industry group claims a slight slowdown in airline traffic is not necessarily bad for business. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates that its member airlines posted a collective operating profit of $10.2 billion for 2006, with net losses totaling $500 million. All of this while the airlines experienced a decelerating passenger traffic growth rate of 5.9 percent, down from 7.6 percent in 2005. The Middle East was the fastest-growing region, recording a full-year passenger traffic increase of 15.4 percent. All other regions saw a decline in the growth rate compared to 2005, while traffic actually decreased 2.4 percent in Latin America thanks to Varig’s downsizing. Load factors improved in all regions except the Middle East and Africa, led by North American carriers, which posted an 80.2 percent load factor.

The organization claims growth was “more profitable” in 2006 than in recent years as “careful capacity management” led to a record average load factor of 76 percent, up 0.9 point. Worldwide capacity growth for the year was just 4.6 percent. IATA reported that worldwide cargo traffic rose 4.6 percent in 2006. The organization claims high fuel costs and strong competition from other transport modes as contributing factors.