IATA boosts airlines' loss forecast to $3 bln

Paris: Soaring oil prices will mean losses of $3 billion for global airlines this year, industry lobby group IATA said on Monday, raising its forecast from $2.2 billion as fuel woes outpace cost-cutting efforts.
The figure for now remains below the loss of $3.2 billion for 2005, but IATA Chief Executive Giovanni Bisignani told the group's annual meeting in Paris that uncertainty remained.
"The industry fuel bill will top $112 billion this year -- $21 billion more than 2005," said the International Air Transport Association, which represents 261 airlines handling 94 percent of the world's scheduled air traffic.
Revenues up 10 percent in each of the last three years have helped buffer airlines, as have cost-cutting efforts, which Bisignani said have reduced non-fuel costs by 13 percent overall since 2001.
05/06/06 Tim Hepher and Jason Neely/Benoit Van Overstraeten/Reuters

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