[190716.EN.BIZ] IATA Index Shows Air Cargo Executives Foresee Gloomy Outlook

IATA's July 2016 Business Confidence Index shows that airline CFOs and heads of cargo are less optimistic about the economic prospects for the next 12 months than at the same time last year.

In general, the report found executives to be more positive about future growth in air travel, but less positive about cargo, reported Air Cargo World, Atlanta area.

That said, according to this year's report, only 9.1 per cent of surveyed executives anticipate cargo traffic volumes decreasing in the year ahead. The survey found that another 48.5 per cent expect volumes to remain static, while the remaining 42.4 per cent are more optimistic, reporting that they expect improvement or an increase in cargo volumes.

Of the surveyed executives, 45.7 per cent anticipate a decrease, 14.3 per cent foresee no change and the remaining 40 per cent expect an increase in profitability. This puts 60 per cent in the decrease/no-change camp.

This disposition, according to IATA, reflects disruptions following recent terrorist attacks in France, Belgium and Turkey, "particularly for European airlines."

One year ago, executives were far more sanguine. In 2015, IATA found that only 22.9 per cent expected a decrease in profits, and a full 60 per cent were confident that profitability would increase.

Source : HKSG.