Tuesday, February 02, 2010
(photo: Berik)
Last year wasn’t just bad for air travel—it was the worst ever, according to an airline trade association. Citing statistics for passengers and cargo, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said 2009 would go down in “history books as the worst year the industry has ever seen.” The decline in demand effectively wiped out two and a half years of growth in passenger markets and three and half years of growth in the freight business, according to Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s director general and CEO.
The biggest drops among routes occurred in Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America, where passenger demand fell 5.6%, 5% and 5.6%, respectively. Air carriers in Africa also suffered steep drops, primarily in the first half of 2009.
The good news from IATA was that Middle Eastern carriers finished the year on a strong note, with a 19.1% increase in December, giving the region an overall growth of 11.2% for the entire year. Latin American carriers recorded 7.1% growth in December. However, these are the three regions with the least amount of total traffic.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
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