Why global aviation industry is set to lose billions

For nine years, the global aviation industry has been recording profits. In recent years, that profit has been hitting trillions.

The trend is set to continue, with a tenth consecutive year of flying profits for the aviation industry worldwide.

However, earnings in 2019 will drop lower than the 2018 figure, it has emerged from a meeting of airline executives in Seoul, South Korea.

Rising fuel costs and weakening international trade is forecast to be behind a projected fall in profits.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), of which Kenya’s national carrier Kenya Airways is a member of, projects that in 2019, profits will fall to Ksh2.8 trillion.

IATA had estimated that earnings in 2018 had reached Ksh3 trillion. This means the aviation industry across the world is set to lose around Ksh2 billion this year.

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The trade association harbours 290 airlines in 120 countries across the world. Both passenger and cargo airlines are among the asociation’s members, amounting to 82% of the world’s air traffic, IATA says on its website.

KQ and other African airliners such as Ethiopia Airlines, RwandAir and South Africa Airways are among the 290 members.

According to The Guardian, the airline industry has also faced the complexities of the US-China trade war, with the ongoing geopolitical tiff set to particularly alter trade in the Asia-Pacific region.

The fallout facing Boeing over the safety of its planes is also a cause for concern. Two crashes within the space of five months led to the banning of the Boeing 737 Max fleet by airliners.

IATA also pointed at the rising price of oil, which is seeing fuel prices rocket. Oil prices this year are expected to be 27.5% higher than in 2017.

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