Trump tariffs’ impact on airlines similar to travel hit from 9/11 aftermath, Iata chief says

The effects of US tariffs on global airlines are likely to be similar in scope and duration to the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, but carriers will adapt quickly and are "cautiously optimistic" about the outlook for the year, the head of the International Air Transport Association said. Having learnt lessons from past crises, airlines will respond with speed and flexibility to tariff disruptions by shifting capacity from markets where demand has decreased into areas that continue to grow, Willie Walsh, director general of Iata, told The National on Tuesday. "Depending on what the uncertainty eventually is, it's probably somewhere near the impact we witnessed following the tragic events of 9/11, which was significant in terms of transatlantic traffic, but short-lived, and the market recovered within a few months," he said on the sidelines of the annual Iata World Cargo Symposium in Dubai. "I don't see it having the same impact as the global financial crisis and certainly nowhere close to what we witnessed during the pandemic." The administration of US President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on goods from trading partners worldwide, leading to fears for the US and global economies, before this month suspending most for 90 days. In this year's first and second quarters, most transatlantic markets, with the exception of US-Canada routes, are still growing, with US-Middle East travel demand rising 8 per cent from the same period in 2024, according to Iata. "You won't see airlines panicking because there's no reason to at the moment, because demand remains quite strong and that's true on the passenger side and cargo side," Mr Walsh said. "They will monitor very closely what the trends are going forward."<br/>