Passenger and cargo air traffic continues decline

Airline passenger and cargo traffic around the world dropped sharply in January as compared with the same month in 2008, on worsening economic conditions, an industry group reported on Thursday.

Passenger traffic decreased by 5.6 percent for the month, while air cargo fell by 23.2 percent, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). This constituted the fifth consecutive monthly decline in passenger traffic numbers and the eighth for cargo.

“The industry is in a global crisis and we have not yet seen the bottom,” said Giovanni Bisignani, chief executive of the IATA. “Alarm bells are ringing everywhere.”

The organization’s executive noted that airlines in every region reported significant declines in cargo, and that the only region to see a rise in passenger traffic was the Middle East.

IATA report changes in “revenue passenger kilometers” and “freight ton kilometers,” but does not provide information on category total amounts.

January’s declines were greater than those in December, the IATA report indicated. In December, passenger traffic dropped by 4.6 percent compared with the previous December; and cargo fell off by 22.6 percent.

Carriers in Asia were hit hardest with softening passenger demand, reporting a drop of 8.4 percent, followed by carriers in North America, with a fall of 6.2 percent.

Thanks to news.yahoo.com for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.iata.org