Fri, Jan 30, 2004
Fell 2.4 Percent in 2003
As one would expect,
war, SARS and a sagging economy did not prove well for the
international aviation market. So, it comes as no surprise the
official traffic numbers slipped in 2003.
On Thursday, the International Air Transport Association (IATA)
reported international air travel declined 2.4 percent in 2003
after a narrow gain a year earlier.
The Geneva-based association was upbeat about 2004, however,
forecasting traffic growth of 7-8 percent after strong recovery in
the last quarter of 2003.
"The war in Iraq, SARS and a world-wide economic slowdown
produced a dismal environment for the air transport industry in the
first half of 2003," IATA said in a statement.
As traffic fell many carriers cut capacity to lower costs but
the IATA said overall capacity rose 0.1 percent.
"As these negative factors gradually disappeared and the airlines'
vigorous cost-cutting measures took effect we saw a robust traffic
recovery in the last quarter," it said.
"The dynamic traffic growth experienced in the second half of
2003 bids well for a healthy trend in 2004 supporting a rebirth of
airline profitability," it said.
Passenger traffic rose 5.2 percent in December though the
year-on-year rise was slower than a 5.9 percent rise in
November.
The Middle East led growth in December, rising 27.7 percent.
The IATA has 275 member carriers from 136 countries representing
over 98 percent of scheduled international traffic but excludes
domestic routes.
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