WORST DEMAND DECLINE IN AIR TRAFFIC LAST YEAR, SAYS IATA

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 (Bernama) -- The December and full-year 2009 demand
statistics for international scheduled air traffic showed the industry ending
last year with the largest ever postwar decline, the International Air Transport
Association (IATA) said Wednesday.

"Passenger demand for full year was down 3.5 per cent with an average load
factor of 75.6 per cent while freight showed a full-year decline of 10.1 per
cent with an average load factor of 49.1 per cent," said IATA director-general
and chief executive officer Giovanni Bisignani.

"Therefore, in terms of demand, 2009 goes into the history books as the
worst year the industry has ever seen," he said in a statement released here
today.

Seasonally adjusted demand figures for December compared to November 2009
indicated a 1.6 per cent rise in passenger traffic while freight remained
basically flat with a 0.2 per cent decline, Bisignani said.

"Revenue improvements will be at much a slower pace than the demand growth
that we are starting to see," he said.

"Profitability will be even slower to recover and airlines will lose an
expected US$5.6 billion in 2010," he added.

According to Bisignani, the industry started 2010 with some enormous
challenges with the worst being over.

"It is not time to celebrate. Adjusting to 2.5 to 3.5 years of lost growth
means that airlines face another spartan year focused on matching capacity
carefully to demand and controlling costs," he said.

-- BERNAMA