Hold champagne on ‘peanuts’ profit, airlines told

Vancouver: International airline executives were told on Monday their industry is on course to post a $5 billion profit this year, but after years of heavy losses it was too little to shout about.
“We are now a $470 billion industry, and a profit of $5 billion is peanuts... We are moving in the right direction, but the financial hole is deep,” International Air Transport Association chief executive Giovanni Bisignani said.
Bisignani, speaking at IATA’s annual meeting in Vancouver, said that with $200 billion in debt the industry was still weak and executives should remember “the economic boom could be a boomerang.”
“The increase in plane orders is making efficient aircraft more expensive and harder to get. More importantly, labour pressure on wages could kill productivity gains,” he said. Bisignani’s warning to airline unions that “the happy days and free lunch are gone forever” won applause from the airline executives who are gathered for two days of meetings in the Canadian Pacific coast city.
06/06/07 Economic Times

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Categories: Foreign Jun 2007, General Aviation Jun 2007