general

IATA downgraded its 2018 profit forecast for the global airline industry, projecting airlines will collectively earn US$33.8b this year, down 12% from the $38.4b predicted in Dec 2017. Fuel costs are much higher than IATA expected when it made its previous forecast six months ago, with Brent Crude oil prices averaging more than $76 per barrel as of June 4. Fuel costs are “quite a big challenge and that’s the principal reason we’re forecasting a squeeze on profitability in 2018,” IATA chief economist Brian Pearce said. Nevertheless, Pearce urged viewing the latest forecast in context. IATA still believes airlines globally will generate more revenue in 2018—$834b, up 10.7% from $754b in 2017—than in any year in the industry’s history. <br/>

The head of airplane sales at Airbus dismissed concerns about a sharp drop in orders for the A330neo jet and predicted European wide-body demand would start to recover this year as rival Boeing extended a series of wins in the lucrative segment. "The world is still full of opportunities in terms of wide-bodies. We have a lost a couple of campaigns in the West and there are other campaigns around the world. I am not personally in a panicking mode about the A330neo," CCO Eric Schulz said Monday. Schulz declined to give a numerical sales target for 2018 wide-body orders but said, "We will see, I think we will be ok. I can see from the dynamics in the market and what we have in the pipeline and what we have already negotiated." <br/>