GENEVA: Airlines are expected to post record profits in 2014, the International Air Transport Association said yesterday, citing sliding oil prices and mergers for the sector’s improving outlook.
“The industry’s fortunes are improving,” IATA chief Tony Tyler said at the umbrella body’s Geneva base. “Today we are raising our global profit outlook for this year to $12.9bn. And we see that increasing to $19.7bn next year,” he told reporters.
The figure for 2013 was $1.2bn better than a forecast issued in September, and $3.3bn over the previous prediction for 2014, he noted. “This is being led primarily by a slight fall in the high price of oil and the positive impact that mergers and joint ventures are having, generating better connectivity for passenger and driving efficiency,” Tyler said.
If the 2014 forecast turned out to be accurate, it would be the sector’s highest-ever profit figure, he underlined. But Tyler also struck a note of caution. “It sounds like a very large number. It is. But it is shared among hundreds of airlines. They will take in $743bn in revenues by transporting some 3.3 billion passengers,” he noted, saying that the sector would hardly be rolling in cash.
AFP
