IATA: Airline losses for 2008 may be deeper than projected $5.2 billion

IATA says that falling passenger traffic may result in deeper losses for airlines globally than the forecast $5.2 billion for the year. It  made this dismal forecast after reporting that September international passenger traffic (RPKs) had declined 2.9 per cent compared to September 2007.

It said this was the first monthly drop since the 2003 SARS crisis.

"The deterioration in traffic is alarmingly fast-paced and widespread," director general and CEO Giovanni 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 $5.2 billion for this year. . .The industry crisis is deepening.".

IATA said that load factor, compared to August, dropped 4.4 points to 74.8%. "Capacity cuts were not able to keep pace with the fall in demand," IATA reported. "September load factors in all regions fell."

Latin America was the only region that registered year-over-year traffic growth and its 1.7% rise was well below August's 11.9% gain.

Asia/Pacific carriers saw September traffic fall 6.8%, while North America dipped 0.9%.

It said Europe traffic dipped 0.5%, while traffic in the Middle East decreased 2.8%.  Africa, it said, posted the largest decline at 7.8%.

IATA said the fall was even more acute with respect to international cargo traffic, which dropped 7.7%, which was the largest decline in a single month since 2001. While Asia/Pacific cargo carriers fell 10.6%, Europe carriers were down 6.8% and North Americans 6%.

It said international air cargo traffic has grown just 0.1% for the first nine months.