TIGHTER CORPORATE TRAVEL budgets, reflecting 2009's bargain Premium Class air fares, will contribute to world airline losses of US$5.6 billion (£3.6 billion) in 2010, according to forecasts released by the International Air Transport Association.
And director-general Giovanni Bisignani (right) says that further consolidation is the aviation industry's only hope of returning to profit. "We are ending an annus horribilus that brings to a close the 10 challenging years of an aviation decennis horribilis," Bisignani said. "Between 2000 and 2009, airlines lost US$49.1 billion."
Revenues and passenger demand are predicted to increase this year, but passenger yields - down 12 per cent last year - are not expected to improve, and fuel prices will be higher.
"The industry is structurally out of balance," said Bisignani. "The precipitous fall in yields will likely never be fully recovered. After almost a decade of cost cutting, non-fuel unit cost reductions will be incremental at best, and the risk of rising fuel costs will be constant.
"Consolidation is the great hope for the industry. The round of consolidation experienced since this horrible decade began is a step in the right direction. The industry cannot afford the mounting losses. The next decade must facilitate consolidation, he added."