Airline figures soar
The new year started well for the airline industry, according to figures for January released by the International Air Transport Association.
Passenger numbers were 6.4% higher than for the same month in 2009. Capacity rose 1.2%, leading to a jump in load factor from 72.2% to 75.9%. In spite of the good news, IATA chief executive Giovanni Bisignani warned: “Passenger yields are still 15% belowpeak and we expect 2010 losses to be $5.6 billion.” Regionally, the best performer was the Middle East, up 23.6%.
