Iata figures reveal growth surge in May

Air freight growth surged in May to 34.3% (significantly up from the 26.0% recorded in April), according to the International Air Transport Association, with Latin American and African carriers recording the fastest increases at 60.2% and 58.2% respectively. European carriers, at the other end of the scale, showed the weakest growth at 21.9%. Airlines are expected to post a $2.5 billion profit in 2010 in a dramatic turnaround from the $9.9 billion lost in 2009. “This is good news, but it is only a 0.5% margin,” said lata director general and CEO Giovanni Bisignani. “In the short-term, airlines need to focus efforts on nurturing the recovery by continuing to match capacity carefully to improving demand conditions. And everybody must control costs. This includes airports, air navigation service providers, global distribution systems and labour. There are no exceptions,” said Bisignani, who believes more can be done to stimulate industry growth. “Two months ago, the Icelandic volcano made it clear that aviation was vital to the global economy. When the volcano went to sleep, politicians developed amnesia to the lessons learned. Germany proposed a € 1 billion departure tax that would dampen demand instead of stimulating growth. The new UK government is talking about a future without domestic aviation and no capacity growth, without any analysis of the devastation that this would bring to the UK’s economy,” said Bisignani.