Airlines Report ‘Shocking’ Plunge In Traffic

[Purveyor]

Source: Financial Times

The airline industry reported on Thursday an “unprecedented and shocking” plunge in global air cargo traffic.

Air freight accounts for 35 per cent of the value of goods traded internationally and the International Air Transport Association said traffic volumes had fallen by 22.6 per cent year-on-year in December.

Giovanni Bisignani, Iata director general, said, “there is no clearer description of the slowdown in world trade. Even in September 2001 (after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US), when much of the global fleet was grounded, the decline was only 13.9 per cent.”

International passenger traffic fell in December by 4.6 per cent. Iata said the drop was less dramatic than in cargo, as volumes had been supported by year-end leisure travel that had been booked in advance.

Airlines are still struggling to reduce capacity to match falling demand, however, and are flying with more empty seats. Capacity was reduced by 1.5 per cent year-on-year in December, resulting in airlines filling only 73.8 per cent of available seats, down from 76.2 per cent a year ago.

Read more: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/320fdb52-edeb-11dd-b791-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

[valerief]

1. Well, the uber-rich have all the money. Duh. nt

[LiberalEsto]

9. AND private jets... nt

[valerief]

10. And mini-kingdoms. They got it all. It's good to be king, I guess. nt

[DuaneBidoux]

33. They may discover it's not so good to be king when your kingdom is starving.

Ask Louis XVI

[marshall]

32. I'd fly on a private jet if I had the money

Flying commericial sucks these days. When I was a child flying was an exciting and frequent experience, and we were treated with kindness and respect by the airline staff. Now it is like a broomstick ride to hell.

[annabanana]

2. file this under. .

"no one could have guessed", , along with every other foreordained conclusion that seems to shock these guys.

[stillcool]

5. that list is going to get mighty long..

Sad.

[XemaSab]

3. My friend's a corporate travel agent

and there were HUGE layoffs at her company day before yesterday. :(

[TechBear_Seattle]

4. And the airlines respond by cutting services, raising ticket prices and creating new fees

Which drives away even more customers, which prompts the airlines to further cut services, raise ticket prices and add even more new fees, which drives away.... You get the picture.

[llmart]

20. What drives me away.....

is all the hoops you have to jump through to get their "low fare" deals. It takes two hours just to read all the fine print and if you understand even half of the "terms and conditions" you're way ahead of me. I wish they would stop with the game playing and just state their rates.

[lostnotforgotten]

6. Link To The IATA Press Release

http://www.iata.org/pressroom/pr/2009-01-29-01.htm

[boomerbust]

7. Get rid of the unions

And everything will be fine.:sarcasm:

[NickB79]

8. Can we bring back sail-powered cargo ships now?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18292644

" Welcome to the "green" age of commercial shipping. A German-made cargo ship will soon set sail, literally. The ship will be carried over the water partly by wind power.

The sails are from a German company called SkySails, and they're really more like giant parachutes. Each sail is about the size of a football field."

[Turbineguy]

14. This is a quite interesting concept

and a 7 percent savings in fuel.

[lunatica]

25. I've seen those in articles! What a great idea.. the sail is like a kite

it is in front and above the ship and pulls the ship.

[Turbineguy]

29. A friend of mine is involved in development

When deployed, the kite traces a figure 8 pattern, in effect creating the wind. It is completely automated and is winched on board just prior to arrival in port.

[liberal N proud]

11. Our company cut travel to business critical only

If it can be handled by a teleconference or net meeting no travel. Only if the business will suffer without travel.

They also dumped the corporate jet.

[bluestateguy]

12. They might want to lower ticket prices for a start

And get rid of that stupid 15$ "bag fee".

[RedEarth]

13. drop in global air cargo traffic shows how much the world economy is in the tank... frightening

......more from another article...

“2009 is shaping up to be one of the toughest years ever for international aviation. The 22.6% drop in international cargo traffic in December puts us in un-charted territory and the bottom is nowhere in sight. Keep your seatbelts fastened and prepare for a bumpy ride and a hard landing,” said Bisignani.

http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/01/unprecedented-and-shocking-decline-in.html

[XemaSab]

16. It was only on a second reading that I really grokked that the focus of the article was cargo

Less personal purchasing, less corporate purchasing, less industrial purchasing. :scared:

[Delphinus]

27. There's also

another thing to look at - the Baltic Dry Freight index. The Index measures the cost of moving raw materials by sea in container ships. Many economists consider the index to be a good leading indicator of economic activity, because if not as many people are looking to move cargo, ships will be in less demand, causing a drop in the price that shippers can charge.

[underseasurveyor]

15. Not the best choice of words when describing any situation in the airline industry.

Plunge x(

[ConcernedCanuk]

17. Poking through luggage, "wanding" everyone - basic invasion of any sense of privacy

.
.
.

Besides lack of meals/drinks on flights

WHO WOULDA THUNK RIDERSHIP WOULD DECLINE?

The sheeple are supposed to just keep putting up with this jackboot mentality,

right?

sorry PNACERs

your plan didn't work

oh yeah, you ripped the America taxpayers for a few trillion,

got wars going all over the place in the USA's name

BUT

did ya make any friends?

count them

[excess_3]

18. welcome news for our smog-choked skies .n/t

[cosmicone]

19. This is actually not that drastic...

all that the companies are doing is what was being sent as air freight (extremely expensive) is being sent by sea via container traffic (really cheap but takes time.)

A 40' container from Hong Kong to San Francisco costs $1,300 whereas the contents of the container sent by air would cost at least $11,000.

[RedEarth]

24. When you combine a drop in air cargo traffic with a drop in container traffic

it is substantial. Demand worldwide for everything is dropping and it's reflected in both air cargo and container traffic.

U.S. Importers Decrease the Number of Imports Nearly 5% in 2008
updated 8:00 a.m. CT, Fri., Jan. 16, 2009


MINNEAPOLIS, MN - Container traffic decreased 4.7% in 2008; however the most significant decline was felt in the 4th Quarter at 7.3%. Shipping traffic decreased every month except one when compared to 2007. Total shipments for 2008 are the lowest since 2005 according to Zepol's U.S. Customs database.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28694731/

......more from another article...

“2009 is shaping up to be one of the toughest years ever for international aviation. The 22.6% drop in international cargo traffic in December puts us in un-charted territory and the bottom is nowhere in sight. Keep your seatbelts fastened and prepare for a bumpy ride and a hard landing,” said Bisignani.

http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/01/unprecedented-and-shocking-decline-in.html

[busybl]

21. lets see,

they treat passengers like downer cattle, treat them like criminals, feed them 2 year old "snacks" and can't figure out why nobody wants to fly. Hmmm

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

22. Coming home from Canada...

My flights to Salt Lake City (Delta) or San Francisco (United) are usually packed - the connecting flights to Orange County are getting a little light.

I hope Delta and United stick around at John Wayne Airport - I fucking hate LAX.

[trof]

23. Uh...folks? This is air CARGO.

And this is NOT a good indication for the world economy.
I flew for Nippon Cargo Airlines in the 80s and 90s when they were doing very well.
They're struggling to hang on now.
Recently closed their New York operations.

[lunatica]

26. All the more reason for the high speed train infrastructures

Let's hope they can build them before we sink into a third world economy

[uberblonde]

28. Nationalize them.

Really. Other countries have done it!

[MilesColtrane]

30. Next up on the Bailout gravy train!!

[No Elephants]

31. Yep--and they got bailed out after 911, too.

[LuckyLib]

34. But, but, but, the executives made record profits and bonuses for "bringing the industry out of

bankruptcy" -- slimeballs.