Air travel demand growth in Middle East

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According to the latest International Air Transport Association (IATA) figures, the Middle East will be the world’s only area to see a growth in demand for air travel this year.

The region is expected to report a growth of 1.2 per cent in passenger demand for the year, as compared with a decline of 5.7 per cent globally.

The IATA said the region’s growth would be “overshadowed” by a capacity increase of 3.8 per cent ahead of demand, meaning a loss of US$900 million for the aviation industry in the Middle East. This represents a deterioration of $100 million from last year’s figures.

In the report it was revealed that aviation industry losses world-wide were likely to reach $4.7 billion this year, which is a significantly worse result than the IATA forecast in December of a $2.5 billion loss for 2009.

“The state of the airline industry today is grim. Demand has deteriorated much more rapidly with the economic slowdown than could’ve been anticipated even a few months ago,” said Giovanni Bisignani, the director general of the IATA.

In addition, revenues are expected to decline by 12 per cent, to $467 billion, on a decrease of 5.7 per cent in passenger traffic.

Premium traffic is expected to fall off even more sharply, and air cargo demand is predicted to decrease by 13 per cent.

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