It Still Hurts - It Just Hurts A Little Less

The aviation industry is still smarting after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It's just not hurting as much as it did last year. That word from the ICAO, which reports airlines the world over lost $7.4 billion in 2002, or 2.3% - a rate lower than 2001 losses, pegged at 3.8% from 2000.

That's The Good News.

The bad news is that the majority of the good news came from overseas. North American airline companies lost about 7.6% of revenues in 2002 compared to the year previous. The rest of the world's air carriers showed an infinitismal increase in money earned - up 0.6% last year. USAirways, United Airlines and Air Canada all fell into the black hole of bankruptcy in 2002 and 2003. Only USAirways has managed to emerge - albeit on rather shaky footing.

Yeah, But We're Moving More Freight

There was a bright spot, if any can be found in the ICAO report. Freight hauls were up about five percent over the previous year. But passenger loads were down last year. Airlines in the 188 countries representated at the ICAO in Montreal report carrying 1.6 billion passengers last year, down slightly from 2001.

FMI: www.icao.int