IATA boosts forecast: Stronger demand and steady fuel costs to pull airlines back into the black

The world's airlines have seen a remarkable switch in fortunes in the past three months, as global air traffic demand recovers more strongly than expected. IATA has revised its outlook for the airline industry from a loss of USD2.8 billion (predicted in Mar-2010) to a profit of USD2.5 billion. It all comes down to a boost to the passenger and cargo demand projections, now +7.1% for passenger (previously +5.6%) and +18.5% for cargo (previously +12.0%), better yields (thanks to good capacity management) and no change to the oil price forecast (of USD79 per barrel).