• 
• 
• 

 

 Passenger volumes fell sharply to 10.1 per cent below 2008 levels (from the minus 5.6 per cent rate in January). The 5.9 per cent reduction in capacity—the most aggressive since the crisis began—could not keep pace with the fall in demand, pushing the February load factor down to 69.9 per cent (3.2 percentage points below the same month in the previous year).

 February international freight volumes were 22.1 per cent below 2008 levels. This is the third consecutive month at more than 20 per cent below previous year levels, following the minus 23.2 per cent in January and minus 22.6 per cent in December.

 IATA earlier expected global airlines to show combined losses of US$4.7 billion this year.

 "Gloom continues. The sharp drop in February passenger traffic shows the broadening scope of the crisis. Freight traffic, which began its decline in June 2008 before passenger markets were hit, has now had three consecutive months in the -22 per cent to -23 per cent range. We may have found a bottom to the freight decline, but the magnitude of the drop means that it will take time to recover," said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's Director General and CEO.

 Asia-Pacific carriers saw passenger traffic decline by 12.8 per cent, far outstripping the -7.8 per cent capacity adjustment. The region's export dependant economies continue to suffer, impacting both business and leisure travel—particularly to long-haul destinations. While this may be somewhat exaggerated by Chinese New Year (which took place in January 2009 and February 2008), the sharp downward drop from the -8.4 per cent recorded in January shows the deepening impact of the crisis on this region.

         Europe's carriers saw traffic fall in line with the global average at -10.1 per cent. Long-haul markets to the US and Asia have been particularly hard hit reflecting negative economic sentiment such as that seen in Germany where business confidence hit new lows in both February and again this month.

         All cargo markets saw extremely weak demand continue as a result of the collapse in international trade in goods and the much lower shipment of components by manufacturers.  However, the level of air freight appears to have found a floor over the past three months. The recently released Eurozone Purchase Managers Indices, being useful forward looking indicators for cargo traffic, showed a slight and unexpected improvement in March—although it remained in negative territory.

         Asian carriers—the largest players in cargo—saw demand fall by 24.7 per cent as the region's high-value export-dependant industries were hard hit by falling consumer demand in the major markets of Europe, the US and Japan.  Japanese exports have almost halved from February 2008 levels.

 Bisignani reminded governments that air transport is a catalyst for economic activity and called for policy changes to help them to stimulate economies by playing this role effectively. 

 "Governments are spending trillions to bailout the banks and trillions more to stimulate economies. By comparison, our requests to governments are cost-effective and cheap. First, air transport needs a tax structure that will help preserve industry jobs and allow air transport to play its role as a catalyst for broad economic activity. Governments must repeal the US$6.9 billion in new taxes put on the industry in 2009 to help pay for banking bailouts—despite being branded as environmental measures.

 "More broadly governments must replace the mindset of taxing aviation as a luxury or a sin with a strategic approach that recognizes and fosters the industry's critical economic role in connecting people to business and products to markets. Second, airlines need the commercial freedoms to be able to merge or consolidate where it makes business sense—even across national borders," said Bisignani.