The latest traffic figures from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) show mixed results during June 2009 for the world’s airlines, but even the most positive interpretation of them would suggest no more than that the deterioration of market conditions has slowed somewhat. Nonetheless, IATA director general Giovanni Bisignani emphasized that overall demand remains very weak and that revenues were still dropping by as much as 25 to 30 percent at the start of what should be the airlines’ busy summer period, spanning the months of June through August. “The outlook remains bleak,” he concluded.
In fact, the decline in international passenger demand of 7.2 percent compared with figures for June 2008 represented something of a leveling off when contrasted with the 9.3-percent fall between the May 2008 and May 2009 figures. Also in June, air cargo demand was down by 16.5 percent on the same month in 2008, and average passenger load factors dipped to 75.3 percent from 77.6 percent.
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