IATA have announced its 2023 air transport outlook and it shows after a tough time during the pandemic, airlines are now on a good path, are making money again, people are flying more, and things are getting back to how they were before.
The number of people flying is more than 90 per cent of what it was in 2019, and the airlines are making a profit. However, But the profit remains small.
IATA’s director general Willie Walsh says put in another way, for every passenger, airlines make only about (USD)$2.25.
“That’s less than a subway ticket in New York City!” he says.
Despite this, he says the progress made since 2020, when they were losing (USD) $76 per passenger, is pretty remarkable.
But not everything is smooth sailing and there are still problems to tackle.
“Things are getting more expensive, there’s a lot of pressure on costs, and in some areas, it’s hard to find enough workers. Plus, some businesses that airlines work with are making these problems worse.
“For example, companies that make parts for planes have been slow to sort out problems with their supply chains, which is raising costs and causing headaches for airlines. Fuel companies, on the other hand, made a lot of money in 2022 when the price for jet fuel was very high.
“There have also been some airports and air navigation service providers (ANSPs) that have shifted their costs onto the airlines. For instance, Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam and some airports in South Africa have significantly increased their charges. These are major challenges for the industry, but despite all these, the fact that airlines are making a profit is quite impressive,” he says.
He says one of the things that the industry can be really proud of is its safety record.
“There’s a system called the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) that has been helping to improve safety for 20 years. It’s shown that airlines on this registry are four times safer than those not on the registry. However, there’s a problem with accident reports. Out of the 214 accidents in the past five years, only 96 final accident reports are available.”
This lack of information could be a problem for safety in the future.
“The industry is also working to make things better for customers. They’re trying to make buying a plane ticket as easy as buying something from an online shop. They’re also working on ways to let people prove who they are digitally, and using things like face recognition to make airports safer and more efficient.”
Despite this, industry is facing challenges from governments around the world and Willie says they’re not always acting globally or fully implementing international standards.
“Sometimes, they’re even coming up with their own rules. This is causing problems because one of the things that makes air travel work so well is that everyone follows the same rules.”
In a nutshell, the air transport industry is still in recovery from the pandemic and even with its challenges, it’s making progress. As a big part of the global economy it is expected to keep growing in the future, but there will still be a lot of work ahead.
