Geneva (TIP) – The airline industry is projected to post a net profit of USD 25.7 billion and revenue at a historic high of USD 964 billion in 2024 as more normal growth is expected in both passenger and cargo segments, global grouping IATA said on Wednesday. For 2023, the net profit is estimated at USD 23.3 billion, significantly higher than the USD 9.8 billion projected by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in June this year. Briefing reporters here, IATA Director General Willie Walsh said India is a “hugely exciting market” and that he was very optimistic. He was responding to a query related to India — one of the world’s fastest growing civil aviation markets. IATA is a grouping of more than 300 airlines.
It said industry revenues are expected to touch a historic high of USD 964 billion next year.
“An inventory of 40.1 million flights is expected to be available in 2024, exceeding the 2019 level of 38.9 million and up from the 36.8 million flights expected in 2023,” it noted.
The airline industry’s operating profit is expected to touch USD 49.3 billion in 2024 from USD 40.7 billion this year. “Some 4.7 billion people are expected to travel in 2024, a historic high that exceeds the pre-pandemic level of 4.5 billion recorded in 2019,” IATA said.
Industry passenger load factor is nearing its 2019 level, which is supporting the financial recovery of the airlines, IATA Director Policy and Economics Andrew Matters said.
“The airline industry net profit is expected to reach USD 25.7 billion in 2024 (2.7 per cent net profit margin). That will be a slight improvement over 2023, which is expected to show a USD 23.3 billion net profit (2.6 per cent net profit margin),” IATA said, while releasing its review of 2023 and the outlook for 2024 here. The industry is estimated to have a total fuel bill of USD 281 billion, accounting for 31 per cent of all operating costs, next year as the fuel price is expected to average USD 113.8 per barrel. “Airlines are expected to consume 99 billion gallons of fuel in 2024,” IATA said. Next year, the total expenses are estimated to rise to USD 914 billion. As per the grouping, high demand for travel coupled with limited capacity due to persistent supply chain issues continues to create supply and demand conditions supporting yield growth.”Passenger yields in 2024 are expected to improve by 1.8 per cent compared to 2023,” it added. The cargo volume is expected to be higher at 61 million tonnes next year compared to 58 million tonnes in 2023.
“From 2024, the outlook indicates that we can expect more normal growth patterns for both passenger and cargo… while the recovery is impressive, a net profit margin of 2.7 per cent is far below what investors in almost any other industry would accept,” Walsh said.
According to him, the airlines will always compete ferociously for their customers but they remain far too burdened by onerous regulation, fragmentation, high infrastructure costs, and a supply chain populated with oligopolies. About the Asia Pacific market, IATA said while some of the region’s main domestic markets — China, Australia and India — recovered quickly from the pandemic, international travel to/ from the region was subdued as China only eliminated the last of its international travel restrictions in mid-2023. The Asia Pacific region is expected to report a net loss of USD 0.1 billion in 2023 and have a net profit of USD 1.1 billion in 2024. Source: PTI
Tag: GENEVA
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Airline industry to rake in $25.7 bn profit in 2024 India a hugely exciting market: IATA
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Swiss order hang gliders to stay away, closing air space as firefighters battle forest inferno
GENEVA (TIP): Swiss authorities have temporarily shut the airspace over a small part of southwestern Switzerland because recreational gliders have endangered the work of emergency teams battling a persistent forest fire in the area. The Federal Office of Civil Aviation said on July 21 that the restriction in an airspace of up to 8,000 feet (about 2,400 meters), over a wooded mountainside near the town of Bitsch, will last a week.
The measure affects civil aircraft and drones and is aimed “to protect the ongoing activities of response teams on the ground and in the air,” the office said on its website.
Office spokesman Christian Schubert, in an email to The Associated Press, said the closure affects about 40-50 square kilometres (about 15-20 square miles) in an area that is popular with recreational gliders.
The heads of local helicopter crews and firefighting squads requested the closure because of the dangers presented by the gliders to what was already risky work, Schubert said. No incidents or injuries have been reported, and the measure was “exclusively of a preventative nature.”
Scores of firefighters, police, troops and other emergency teams, backed by helicopters, have deployed to battle the wildfire that was first reported on Monday. The move prompted authorities to temporarily evacuate residents of four villages and hamlets in the area.
Franz Mayr, a community leader in Bitsch, said the fire remained “small” — some 107 hectares (about 265 acres) have been affected — and the situation was stable, though strong winds continued. (AP) -
France must address ‘deep’ police racism: UN
GENEVA (TIP): France must address deep issues of racial discrimination in its police, the United Nations said on June 30, after a third night of unrest sparked by the fatal police shooting of a teenager. The death of 17-year-old Nahel during a traffic stop has revived long-standing grievances about policing and racial profiling in France’s low-income and multi-ethnic suburbs. “We are concerned by the killing of a 17-year-old of North African descent by police in France on Tuesday,” UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a media briefing in Geneva. “We note that an investigation has been launched into alleged voluntary homicide. This is a moment for the country to seriously address the deep issues of racism and discrimination in law enforcement.”
French President Emmanuel Macron was to lead a crisis meeting of ministers on Friday after a third night of protests saw cars torched, shops ransacked and hundreds arrested.
“We also emphasize the importance of peaceful assembly,” Shamdasani said.
“We call on the authorities to ensure the use of force by police to address violent elements in demonstrations always respects the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality, non-discrimination, precaution, and accountability.”
“Any allegations of disproportionate use of force must be swiftly investigated.”
Shamdasani said the UN rights office was concerned about the unrest that followed the shooting, and the large number of police officers injured.
“There has been quite a lot of looting and violence as well by certain elements who are using the protests for these purposes,” she said.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) is a body of independent experts that monitors how states are implementing the convention on eliminating all forms of such discrimination.
In December, CERD voiced its own deep concerns about the frequent use in France of identity checks, discriminatory stops, and criminal fixed fines that the committee said disproportionately targeted members of certain minority groups. (AFP)
Stop the press: Vienna newspaper Wiener Zeitung ends daily print edition after 320 years
BERLIN (TIP): One of the world’s oldest newspapers, the Vienna-based Wiener Zeitung, ended its daily print run on June 30 after more than three centuries.
First published under the name Wiennerisches Diarium, the paper set out to provide a sober account of the news “without any oratory or poetic gloss” when it was launched on Aug. 8, 1703.
“320 years, 12 presidents, 10 emperors, 2 republics, 1 newspaper,” the print edition’s final front page read.
The Wiener Zeitung, which is owned by the Austrian government but editorially independent, suffered a sharp decrease in revenue after a recent law dropped a requirement for companies to pay to publish changes to the commercial registry in the print edition.
The newspaper, which is considered a quality publication with a wide range of articles covering domestic and foreign news, culture and business, was forced to cut 63 jobs and reduce its editorial staff by almost two-thirds to 20.
It will continue to operate online and plans a monthly print edition. (AP)