IATA released its international traffic results a couple of weeks back and after a very positive rebound in international passenger traffic over the last nine months, April's results showed a considerable decline thanks in large part to Volcanic Ash that affected traffic across the North Atlantic. Overall, passenger traffic was down by 2.4% for April vs. April of a year ago. More importantly, the results were down from the 10% increase recorded in March.
European traffic suffered the most, declining by almost 12% while North American traffic declined by 2%, Asia-Pacific showed a 3.5% increase, Middle East airlines recorded a 13% increase, and Latin American carriers showed a 1% increase.
The 'ash' was one of those unexpected external elements that tend to damage traffic trends. Moreover, other external events can damage the rebound as strikes at British Airways and currency instability may further impact traffic returns putting into jeopardy a nice upturn.
Separately, IATA is now forecasting that the world's airlines will post a profit of $2.5Billion in 2010. It was only March where the same organization said that the airlines would lose $2.8Billion. This apparent 'miss' (hey...what's a $5.3Billion error between friends) reminds of the expression: "...people shouldn't forecast, especially about the future...."
Ash from volcano can damage a jet engine quicker than you can say "scat". The best sunglasses to wear when flying through ash are aviator sunglasses!
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