IATA

As passenger numbers continue to grow air cargo still declining

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced global traffic results for January showing a 5.7% rise in passenger demand but an 8.0% decline in air freight compared to the same month in 2011.

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IATA CEO urges policy makes to use aviation strategically

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has urged policy-makers to use aviation as a strategic asset in a speech at the Singapore Airshow.

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Iberia Cargo achieves IATA "Cargo 2000" certification

Iberia Cargo has joined IATA’s exclusive Cargo 2000 group with another 60 companies, including leading airlines, multinational freight agencies, handling operators, other transport companies and IT providers to the freight industry.

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IATA report shows passenger growth but air cargo slump

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced global traffic results for October. The report show air cargo demand was 4.7% below the same month in 2010 while passenger traffic showed a 3.6% rise over previous year levels. Read more

September airline passenger traffic rises but air freight declines

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced traffic results for September showing diverging trends for air cargo and airline passenger traffic. Read more

IATA report September traffic: stronger passenger, weaker freight

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced international traffic results for September. International passenger traffic had a 10.5% year-on-year increase which is significantly stronger than the 6.5% rise recorded for August. International freight traffic recorded a 14.8% year-on-year increase, which is significantly weaker than the 19.0% rise recorded in August. Read more

IATA report demand improvements continue in March - volcano related dip in April

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that March 2010 international scheduled air traffic showed continued strengthening of demand. Compared to March 2009, passenger demand was up 10.3%, while cargo demand grew 28.1%. Both are improvements from the 9.0% and 26.3% growth for passenger and freight demand recorded in February.

These are strong gains, but the data is being compared to March 2009, which was the low point for international air travel during the recession.  “March results show that the pace of the upturn is strong. But the trauma of the recession is not over. The industry has lost two years of growth, and passenger and freight markets are still 1% below early 2008 highs. Nonetheless, the pace of improvement, based on an improving global economic situation, is much faster than anybody would have expected even six months ago,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO. IATA noted that the International Monetary Fund revised global GDP growth forecasts from 3.0% to 4.3% for 2010.

With a 78.0% load factor recorded in March, passenger load factors remain at record highs. While demand expanded by 10.3% in March, capacity increases stood at 2.0%, boosting the load factor and creating much tighter supply and demand conditions. Global capacity remains 3-4% below pre-crisis levels.

International freight markets are also experiencing tighter supply and demand conditions. The 28.1% improvement in demand outpaced the 5.3% capacity expansion in March. This drove freight load factors to 57.1% — the highest since November 2002 when international freight load factors stood at 58.8%.

International Passenger Demand
Regional demand patterns continue to reflect the asymmetrical nature of the economic rebound.

• Asia-Pacific carriers posted strong demand growth of 12.6%, against a capacity expansion of 1.3%. The strength of the rebound in the region’s economies is supporting Asia-Pacific’s demand improvement. China’s economy grew by 11.9% in the first quarter while India’s economy is growing by 7.0%. There is also greater optimism for a return to economic growth in Japan.
• European carriers posted traffic growth of 6.0%, considerably weaker than the global improvements, but better than the 4.0% growth in February.  This is the result of sluggish home economies and continuing high unemployment rates. European carriers reduced capacity by 0.8% compared to the previous year.
• North American carriers posted a traffic growth of 7.8%, lagging the global average, although considerably improved from the 4.4% recorded in February.  Uncertainty over government budget cuts and tax increases is dampening demand for air travel, compared to other regions, particularly Asia-Pacific. North American carriers posted the highest load factor among the regions (81.6%) as a result of continuing careful capacity management.
• Middle Eastern carriers recorded the strongest traffic growth at 25.9%. While economic growth of 5% in the region is supporting some of this increase, a large part is attributed to market share gains on long-haul markets, connecting passengers over Middle Eastern hubs. Load factors of 76.2% were slightly below the global average.
• African carriers are now starting to see improving growth, having suffered market share declines for several years. During March, demand was up 13.6% and load factors grew to 67.4% for the month.
• Latin American carriers posted the weakest growth of any region, increasing only 4.6% in March. This is in sharp contrast to February when the region’s carriers grew by 8.5%. The reduction is largely due to the impact of the earthquake in Chile.

International Cargo Demand

• Global air freight is now within 1% point of recovering to its previous high point of early 2008. International air freight volumes shrank by over one quarter during the second half of 2008. The upturn in the business inventory cycle has almost eliminated that decline, although the upturn for international air freight has taken twice as long as the collapse.
• Despite the sluggish US economy, North American carriers have seen an international freight rebound (+32.2%). Both export and import volumes are very strong in the emerging economies of Asia-Pacific (+34.1%) and in Latin America which recorded the strongest growth at 47.9%.
• European carriers showed the weakest improvement in freight demand at 11.7%, largely due to the slow economic recovery in the region.

The strong traffic recovery is expected to show a dip in April as a result of the eruption of an Icelandic volcano in April that saw the shutdown of large portions of European airspace over a six-day period.  “European carriers were already showing the weakest recovery from the financial crisis through March. The volcanic ash crisis hit the weakest part of the industry the hardest. The majority of the US$1.7 billion in lost revenues was by Europe’s carriers. Passenger confidence is not affected and we expect a quick rebound. The combined impact of lost business and added costs will certainly hit the bottom line,” said Bisignani.

Aviation organisations launch safety information exchange

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), along with three governmental aviation safety organisations, took the first step to creating a global information exchange to improve aviation safety.

IATA, together with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the Commission of the European Union (EU), has signed a Declaration of Intent to exchange safety data.  The signing took place during the ICAO High-Level Safety Conference in Montreal.

“Today’s milestone agreement marks the first time the global aviation community has come together to work on a global safety information exchange. Data must drive our actions so that we can focus our joint efforts on reducing the greatest risks,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

“Working together with governments using global standards, safety has improved tremendously. In 1945, there were 9 million passengers and 247 fatalities. In 2009, 2.3 billion people flew with 685 fatalities. Every fatality is a human tragedy and reminds us that we must do better. Today’s agreement is one more important step to make a safe industry even safer,” said Bisignani.

Audit data will be a key element in the project.  IATA, ICAO, the FAA and the EU conduct audit programs that collect complementary safety information. “We must understand safety trends, not just from the handful of accidents each year, but by bringing together and analyzing data from millions of safe flights. With this we can take more effective action to reduce risks and improve safety performance,” said Bisignani.

“There is no competition when it comes to safety. Cooperation is the way forward.  We have a common goal of zero accidents and zero fatalities. The safety data from audits and oversight programs contains important parts of a whole picture. Agreeing to put this data together is a major step forward,” said Bisignani.

The four organisations will now start work on a way to standardize safety audit information and ensure compliance with local privacy laws and policies. This is targeted to be completed within 12 to 18 months.

The 2009 global accident rate, measured in hull losses per million flights of Western-built jet aircraft, was 0.71. This is a significant improvement of the 0.81 rate recorded in 2008. Compared to 10 years ago, the accident rate has been cut 36% from the 1.11 rate recorded in 2000.

IATA comment on Open Skies US-EU agreement

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released the following comments in response to the Memorandum of Consultation on Second Stage Open Skies agreement between the US and the European Union: 

“It is disappointing that, at this critical time, we did not make significant progress on the issue of ownership. The agreement was not a step backwards, but it did not move us forward. The long-term financial sustainability of the industry is dependant on normal commercial freedoms. I urge both governments to keep this on the radar screen for urgent follow-up,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO. 

IATA welcomed the reaffirmation within the agreement that environmental issues leading up to COP-16 should continue to be addressed through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). “ICAO is the right forum to reach a global sectoral approach to deal with aviation’s carbon emissions. I welcome the agreement’s reaffirmation of this as the industry continues to pursue its ambitious environmental targets to improve fuel efficiency by 1.5% per year to 2020, cap net emissions from 2020 with carbon neutral growth and cut net carbon emissions in half by 2050 compared to 2005,” said Bisignani.

IATA - Aircraft accident rate drops in 2009 to second lowest in aviation history

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced the aviation safety performance for 2009 showing that the year’s accident rate for Western-built jet aircraft as the second lowest in aviation history. 

The 2009 global accident rate (measured in hull losses per million flights of Western-built jet aircraft) was 0.71. That is equal to one accident for every 1.4 million flights. This is a significant improvement of the 0.81 rate recorded in 2008 (one accident for 1.2 million flights).  The 2009 rate was the second lowest in aviation history, just above the 2006 rate of 0.65. Compared to 10 years ago, the accident rate has been cut 36% from the rate recorded in 2000.

In absolute numbers, 2009 saw the following results

• 2.3 billion people flew safely on 35 million flights (27 million jet, 8 million turboprop)
• 19 accidents involving western built jet aircraft compared to 22 in 2008
• 90 accidents (all aircraft types, Eastern and Western built) compared to 109 in 2008
• 18 fatal accidents (all aircraft types) compared to 23 in 2008
• 685 fatalities compared to 502 in 2008

“Safety is the industry’s number one priority. Even in a decade during which airlines lost an average of US$5 billion per year, we still managed to improve our safety record. Last year, 2.3 billion people flew safely. But every fatality is a human tragedy that reminds us of the ultimate goal of zero accidents and zero fatalities,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

IATA member airlines outperformed the industry average with a Western-built jet hull accident rate of 0.62. That rate is equal to one accident for every 1.6 million flights. “In 2009 IATA marked an important milestone in aviation safety. From April 1, all IATA members were on the registry of the IATA Operational Safety Audit—a testimony to our commitment to the highest global standards for operational safety. IOSA is the global standard. Today 332 carriers are on the registry, including IATA’s 231 members,” said Bisignani.

There are significant regional differences in the accident rate.

• North Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean as well as the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) had zero western-built jet hull losses in 2009
• North America (0.41) and Europe (0.45) performed better than the global average of 0.71
• Asia-Pacific’s accident rate worsened to 0.86 in 2009 (compared to 0.58 in 2008) with three accidents involving carriers from the region.
• The Middle East and North Africa region saw its accident rate rise to 3.32 (compared to 1.89 in 2008) with four accidents involving carriers from the region.
• Africa had an accident rate of 9.94, significantly higher than their 2008 rate of 2.12. Africa has once again the worst rate of the world.  There were five Western-built jet hull losses with African carriers in 2009. African carriers are 2% of global traffic, but 26% of global western-built jet hull losses.

An analysis of the causes of the 2009 accidents focuses on three main areas:

• Runway excursions continue to be a challenge and accounted for 26% of all accidents in 2009.  However, the total number of runway excursions dropped by 18% (23 vs 28 in 2008). IATA released its Runway Excursion Risk Reduction Toolkit in 2009, with an updated version to be produced later this year. The toolkit is incorporated with IATA’s broad ranging safety data tools in the IATA Global Safety Information Center (GSIC), a customizable website which will enable users to extract relevant safety information through a single application and enable them to perform performance benchmark and conduct trend analysis and risk management.
• Ground damage accounted for 10% of all accidents in 2009. To improve safety and reduce this US$4 billion annual industry cost, IATA introduced the IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO). Built on similar principles to IOSA, ISAGO is the industry’s first global standard for the oversight and auditing of ground handling companies. The first audits took place in 2008. To date a total of 149 audits have been conducted.
• While runway excursions and ground damage were the main categories of accidents, pilot handling was noted as a contributing factor in 30% of all accidents. IATA’s Training & Qualification Initiative (ITQI) is pushing for harmonizing a competency-based approach focused on training real skills while addressing threats presented by accident/incident reports and flight data collection and reporting. IATA will also work through ICAO to develop a Fatigue Risk Management System as part of the Safety Management System. This will be a new process to systematically manage crew fatigue taking into account changes in aircraft capabilities and airline operations.

These initiatives are consistent with IATA’s comprehensive Six-point Safety Program which focuses on infrastructure safety, safety data management and analysis, operations, Safety Management Systems, maintenance and auditing.

“Safety is a constant challenge. Having made aviation the safest way to travel, further improvements will come only with careful data analysis. We must understand the underlying safety risk trends, not just from the handful of accidents each year, but by bringing together and analyzing data from millions of safe flights. The IATA Global Safety Information Center was launched in December 2009 for just that purpose. Going forward our goal is to work with other organizations and governments involved in aviation safety to add to the database and drive even more improvements,” Said Bisignani.