Wednesday July 1, 2009, 7:23 am
More than 60 airlines lost more than $US3.0 billion ($A3.72 billion) during the first three months of this year in the face of a steep fall in demand, the top industry body the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said.
"This deterioration was before the recent rise in fuel prices and was due mostly to the fall in revenues, as a sharp fall in yields added to the impact of weak travel and freight volumes," IATA said on Tuesday.
The negative results are consistent with IATA's full-year loss forecast of about $US9.0 billion ($A11.15 billion), said the association.
But they contrasted sharply to the $US405 million ($A501.55 million) profit made by the airlines during the same period last year.
European carriers posted the biggest losses during the first quarter of 2009, totalling $US2.08 billion ($A2.58 billion).
Asian-Pacific airlines showed losses of $US822 million ($A1.02 billion) while North American carriers posted losses of $US574 million ($A710.84 million).
Middle Eastern airlines posted a profit of $US291 million ($A360.37 million), but this was a fraction of the $US1.69 billion ($A2.09 billion) profit they earned during the same quarter last year.
Only Latin American carriers improved their earnings, with $US139 million ($A172.14 million) in profits for the quarter, up from $US120 million ($A148.61 million) year-on-year.
A slump in air passenger traffic accelerated in February and March, reaching double-digits, before stabilising in April, IATA statistics indicated.
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