Tag Archives: International Air Transport Association

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced that Willie Walsh has officially taken on the role of Director General of the organization. He succeeds Alexandre de Juniac. “I am passionate about our industry and about the critical work that IATA does on behalf of its members, never more so than during the COVID-19 crisis. IATA has been at the forefront of efforts to restart global connectivity, including developing the IATA Travel Pass. Less visible but of equal importance, airlines continue to rely on IATA’s financial settlement systems, Timatic and other vital services to support their day-to-day operations. I am grateful to Alexandre for leaving behind a strong organization and a motivated team. Together, the IATA team is absolutely focused on restoring the freedom of movement that airlines provide to billions of people around the world. That means your freedom to visit friends and family, to meet critical business partners, to secure and retain vital contracts, and to explore our wonderful planet,” said Walsh.

International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released a letter to national associations that states that agencies will receive only 8% of the total refunds from Jet Airways. The letter states, “Unfortunately, the balance of the Security Deposit held by IATA (after settling 100% of all refunds up to the date of suspension) was not sufficient to cover all the remaining refunds that have been approved by Jet Airways in the post-suspension refund process. Therefore, IATA will have to pro-rate the total refund against the net remaining balance withheld, which means that your agency will receive approximately 8% of the total refunds approved by the airline.” This will be automatically included in their billing. Refunds that have been rejected by the airline will not be processed.

Airports Council International (ACI) World and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have jointly issued a paper laying out a pathway for restarting the aviation industry – Safely Restarting Aviation – ACI and IATA Joint Approach. They have called on governments to ensure new measures introduced for airports and airlines in the wake of COVID-19 are consistent across the world. Any restrictions put in place should be supported by scientific evidence, they added. ACI and IATA are both central members the COVID-19 Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART) being led by the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Angela Gittens, Director General, ACI World, said during a webinar conducted by CAPA India on May 29, 2020, that, “Airports and airlines have come together with ICAO and the wider aviation industry to address the biggest challenge ever faced by commercial aviation in restarting a global industry while continuing to halt the spread of COVID-19. There is currently no single measure that could mitigate all the risks of restarting air travel but we believe a globally-consistent, outcome-based approach represents the most effective way of balancing risk mitigation with the need to unlock economies and to enable travel.” The joint approach proposes a layered approach of measures across the entire passenger journey to minimise the risk of transmission of COVID-19 at airports and onboard aircraft, and to prevent aviation becoming a meaningful source of international re-infection. Such measures should be globally consistent and subject to continued review, improvement, and removal when no longer required, to ensure an even recovery.

According to the new analysis by International Air Transport Association (IATA), in 2021 it is expected that global passenger demand (measured in revenue passenger kilometres, RPKs) will be 24% below 2019 levels and 32% lower than IATA’s October 2019 Air Passenger forecast for 2021. This forecast is modelled on the baseline scenario of domestic markets opening in Q3, with a much slower phased opening of international markets. This would limit the air travel recovery, despite most forecasts pointing toward a strong economic rebound late this year and during 2021.

A survey conducted by International Air Transport Association (IATA) at the beginning of April reveals that as many as 47% of air passengers surveyed wished to begin travelling within a month or two (by May or June). The survey, conducted across 11 countries (including India), also revealed that at least 4 per cent still continued being sceptical and did not wish to travel for the foreseeable future. Respondents for the survey were from Australia, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, India, Japan, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the Unites States.

According to the latest data provided by International Air Transport Association (IATA), the airline industry could be staring at an estimated $35 billion of ticket refunds. This, clubbed with significant fixed and semi-fixed costs of which many cannot be avoided over a short period of time, can amount to the airline industry using up to $61 billion from its cash reserve in the second quarter (Q2) of 2020. This comes after IATA’s impact assessment released earlier, which showed that the industry was looking at a net loss of $39 billion in Q2 2020.

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 …

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.

Year-on-year RPK growth slowed substantially in the domestic India market in March 2019, from 8.3 per cent in February, to 3.1 per cent currently, according to International Air Transport Association (IATA). Over the past five years, annual growth has averaged a double-digit pace close to 20 per cent. In large part, the slowdown reflects the disruption of flight operation for Jet Airways, including a number of flight cancellations, as well as construction works at Mumbai airport which also interrupted operations. Rising airfares in recent months are also likely to have weighed upon passenger demand.