GENEVA – The strong traffic recovery by global airlines in March is expected to show a dip in April as a result of the volcanic ash plume over northern Europe that saw the shutdown of large portions of European airspace over a six-day period.
“European carriers were already showing the weakest recovery from the financial crisis through March. The volcanic ash crisis hit the weakest part of the industry the hardest,†said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s director general and CEO
The majority of the US$1.7 billion in lost revenues due to airspace shutdown was by Europe’s carriers.
IATA welcomed the announcement by the European Commission of a comprehensive programme to provide relief to the air transport sector in the aftermath of airspace closures resulting from the Icelandic volcano activity.
Compared to March 2009, passenger demand was up 10.3 percent in March this year, IATA said.
Asia-Pacific carriers posted strong demand growth of 12.6 percent, against a capacity expansion of 1.3 percent.
The fallout from the disruption caused by the ash plume is expected to result in air fares rising in Europe by up by 5.2 per cent as airlines, already hit hard by the recession, attempt to recoup the huge losses incurred during this month’s crisis.
The figures came from a report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, an economic forecasting house, produced for shopping website Kelkoo.
It put the cost to airlines of the ash-induced northern European airports’ shutdown at around £1.3 billion by the end of last week, and factored in rocketing fuel prices.
