ECONOMIC GLOOM CONTINUES IN JANUARY TRAFFIC

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 27 (Bernama) -- The international passenger demand fell by
5.6 percent in January 2009 compared to the same month in 2008, said the
International Air Transport Association (Iata).

In a statement here Thursday, Iata said the results for January showed a
deepening year-on-year demand slump.

"It is also a full percentage point worse than the 4.6 percent year-on-year
drop recorded in December. The January fall is the fifth consecutive month of
contraction," it said.

Iata said the drop in passenger demand outpaced capacity cuts of 2.0 percent
driving the load factor to 72.8 percent -- 2.8 percent below what was recorded
for January 2008.

It said the alarming collapse in cargo markets in December (-22.6 percent)
worsened in January 2009 with a 23.2 percent year-on-year demand drop.

"This is the eighth consecutive month of contraction for freight traffic,"
it said.

Iata's director-general/chief executive officer, Giovanni Bisignani, said
alarm bells were ringing everywhere with every region's carriers reporting
big drops in cargo.

"Aside from the Middle East carriers, passenger demand is also falling in
all regions. The industry is in a global crisis and we have not yet seen the
bottom," he said.

The association said Asian carriers led the decline in passenger demand with
an 8.4 percent year-on-year drop in January.

"While this is slightly better than the 9.7 percent contraction in December,
this is positively skewed by Chinese New Year which fell at the end of January
2009 (and which was in February the year before)," it said.

Iata said North American carriers posted the second largest passenger
decline at 6.2 percent led by a decline in trans-Pacific travel.

"In response, carriers withdrew 2.6 percent of their international capacity,
clawing back some of the expansion of 2008," it said.

It said the European carriers offset a 5.7 percent decline in demand with a
3.6 percent decrease in capacity.

Latin American carriers saw a modest decline of 1.4 percent, it said.

African carriers saw the demand declined from an average 4.0 percent in
2008 to 2.6 percent in January, it said.

Iata said the Middle East was the only region with a positive traffic growth
of 3.1 percent.

Asia Pacific carriers, representing 43 percent of the market, led the cargo
decline with a 28.1 percent year-on-year drop, Iata said.

"This is followed closely by the other major market players: European
carriers (-23.0 percent) and North American carriers (-19.3 percent)," it said.

-- BERNAMA