Tag Archives: IATA

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) welcomed the announcement by the European Commission (EC) granting the temporary suspension until June 2020 of the 80-20 ‘use it or lose it’ rule for airport slots.  The decision reflects the unprecedented situation facing the airline industry. However, granting the suspension only until June is the very minimum the industry needs, and a decision on a full suspension until October will be needed within the next month to allow airlines to plan their schedules. The COVID-19 virus has caused a collapse in global air travel demand. Owing to the requirement to continue to operate an airport slot for at least 80% of the time, airlines have been unable to respond by adjusting their capacity. The suspension of the slot use rules until June will allow airlines to begin putting in place measures to cope with the unprecedented fall in traffic, but it is a shorter period than airlines had requested. Airlines need the suspension to be extended to cover the whole season (to October), as other regulators worldwide have already agreed. The EC will therefore need to review the extension request by April 15. “Airlines are in crisis. The collapse in demand is unprecedented. And airlines are struggling to match capacity to the fast-changing situation. The Commission’s decision to suspend slot use rules until June means that airlines can make these critical decisions immediately—without worrying about the impact on future availability of slots. This is much needed and most welcome. However, given all the uncertainties, it is disappointing that the decision does not cover the full season,” said Rafael Schvartzman, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Europe. The Commission’s decision will benefit airlines, airports and …

In IATA’s recently released 20-year air passenger forecast, India will displace the UK to be the third largest aviation market with 278 million passengers in 2026. More passengers mean bigger crowds and more stringent security requirements, adding up to longer queues and greater potential for disruption. These factors could be why travellers are increasingly prioritising comfort over more functional concerns such as cost and efficiency.

Effective March 1, 2020, Qantas Airways Limited, flag carrier of Australia, will reduce the IATA BSP Travel Agency Commission to just one per cent for Qantas tickets issued in India. All Qantas tickets prior to March 1, 2020 will be eligible for the current 3% per cent IATA BSP Travel Agency Commission. The airline recently cancelled nearly one in ten flights on the busy Sydney-Melbourne corridor in the six months to November 2019, according to Australian Government statistics. The route is one of the busiest in the world and Qantas operates up to 46 return services a day at 15-minute frequencies in peak times.

Air passenger numbers across India are expected to reach 4.72 billion in 2020, according to International Air Transport Association (IATA). The forecast shows an increase of 4% from 4.54 billion in 2019. A statement, released by IATA, said, “Passenger demand (RPKs) is expected to grow 4.1% in 2020, in line with 4.2% growth in 2019. In fact, this masks a GDP-growth-driven pick-up since the underlying growth rate fell to less than 4.0% in 2019. However, whereas passenger capacity (ASKs) rose 3.5% in 2019, it is forecast to grow 4.7% in 2020 – as aircraft deliveries rise significantly, causing load factors to slide to 82% from 82.4% in 2019. This will maintain pressure on yields, which are expected to slide 1.5% after falling 3.0% in 2019. Passenger revenues, excluding ancillaries, are expected to reach $581 billion (up 2.5% from $567 billion in 2019).

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is in talks with the Indian civil aviation officials to adopt the worldwide airport slot guidelines which will help new airlines get slots at various airports in India. Once adopted, more international airlines will be able to fly into India, connecting more cities worldwide and it could also help the UDAN scheme. As per the guidelines, new entrants which could either be new airlines or those who have not operated from a particular airport will be allowed three daily return flights. Once these slots are used up, that particular airline will not be allocated new slots but will have to bid for the next phase of expansion. (Source: The Hindu Business Line)

The Indian domestic Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPK) market recorded an 8.9% annual growth rate, up from 8.2% in June, reveals IATA Air Passenger Market Analysis. The market has not yet returned to the double-digit growth rates that were the norm in the past 4-5 years. Yet it seems to be adjusting well to the disruption caused by the demise of Jet Airways; capacity is also back on track (7.1% yoy in July vs 3.4% in June).

The average return fare in 2018 was 60% lower than in 1998, before taxes and surcharges, while the cost of air freight ($/Kg) was down 61% over the same period, stated Alexandre de Juniac, Director General and CEO, International Air Transport Association (IATA), in the IATA World Air Transport Statistics (2019 WATS), where they released performance figures for 2018 . He added that aviation is good for local economies too— $843 billion in tourism spending was made possible by air travel last year, while governments collected $129 billion in tax revenues from airlines and air travel.

Airlines across the world carried 4.4 billion passengers on scheduled services, an increase of 6.9 per cent over 2017, representing an additional 284 million trips by air, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which released performance figures for 2018 in the IATA World Air Transport Statistics (2019 WATS).  Alexandre de Juniac, Director General and CEO, IATA, stated, “The world’s airlines safely carried around 4.3 billion passengers last year, on some 126,000 daily flights connecting over 21,000 city pairs.”

A study by International Air Transport Association (IATA) has revealed that in terms of air travel growth driven by emerging markets, India leads the pack with 18.9 per cent Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPK) growth in 2018 as against 2017. China ranked second at 12.1 RPK, followed by Russia at 9.2 RPK.

The recently released global passenger traffic results for May by The International Air Transport Association (IATA), revealed that after a fall in domestic RPKs in April (down 2.0 per cent YoY), following the demise of Jet Airways, growth in the India market rebounded sharply in May, with RPKs now an even 6.0 per cent higher than a year ago. While it will take some time for the market to adjust to the recent shock, the longer-term outlook for domestic India traffic remains positive.