IATA trims airline industry profit view, sees rebound in 2019

Global airlines will see rising profit growth and record carbon dioxide emissions next year as strong demand offsets cost pressures that trimmed profitability in 2018, the IATA said Wednesday. Industry profits are expected to rise to $35.5b in 2019 from $32.3b in 2018, IATA said.“The aviation industry is on a more solid financial footing than at any time in its history,” IATA DG and CEO Alexandre de Juniac said. IATA chief economist Brian Pearce said IATA did not expect a recession ahead but there was a lot to worry about, with trade protectionism and uncertainty around Brexit, although even the most chaotic outcome of Britain’s exit from the European Union was expected merely to slow, not stop, long-term growth. “The tariff wars are a worry for us. It’s actually though really just the latter stages of a decade of protectionism, actually since the global financial crisis we’ve seen cross border trade growing at a much slower pace than we saw in the years of globalisation,” Pearce said.<br/>