International Air Transport Association (IATA) - Articles and news items

Global Traffic Falls 2.4% in April

Airport news / 27 May 2010 /

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced international scheduled air traffic results for April 2010. Passenger demand slumped by 2.4% as a result of massive flight cancellations centered in Europe during the six days in April following the eruptions of an Icelandic volcano. The fall in traffic interrupted the industry’s recovery from the global financial crisis.

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IATA Blasts Europe’s Handling of the Volcanic Ash Crisis

Airport news / 18 May 2010 /

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) called on European governments and air navigation service providers to urgently develop more precise procedures to identify ash contaminated air space and allow more flights. The call came in the wake of 1,000 flight cancellations on Monday (17 May) as a result of the continued volcanic eruptions in Iceland.

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Demand Improvements Continue in March -Expect Volcano-Related Dip in April-

Airport news / 28 April 2010 /

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that March 2010 international scheduled air traffic showed continued strengthening of demand. Compared to March 2009, passenger demand was up 10.3%, while cargo demand grew 28.1%. Both are improvements from the 9.0% and 26.3% growth for passenger and freight demand recorded in February.

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Re-Think of Volcano Measures Governments Must Base Decisions on Fact Not Theory

Airport news / 19 April 2010 /

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) sharply criticized European governments for their lack of leadership in handling airspace restrictions in light of the Icelandic volcano eruption and urged a re-think of the decision-making process.

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Gulf Air cabin crew rated excellent by latest IATA customer satisfaction survey

Airport news / 13 April 2010 /

Gulf Air, the National carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, announced the results of its 2009 customer satisfaction survey, which saw the airline’s overall satisfaction ratings increase by 8% from 2008 and its cabin crew rated as excellent. The independent survey carried out by the global airline industry’s governing body IATA, surveyed more than 20,000 passengers over a one year period.

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Are you ready to simplify your business?

Issue 2 2010 / 5 April 2010 /

Losses continue. Routes are being cut. Industry numbers are down. Passengers are demanding better service. The industry needs new ways of delivering services that fundamentally change its cost base but also improve customer convenience.

Enter IATA’s Simplifying the Business (StB) programme. StB began in 2004. Its mission is to change the way the industry operates – resulting in better service for passengers and lower costs for the industry. Since its founding, the programme has delivered US$4 billion in annual industry savings through the successful completion of two projects. The industry transitioned to 100% e-ticketing in June 2008, generating US$3 billion in savings. A further US$1 billion was saved by the completion of the common use self-service (CUSS) kiosk project in December 2008. That project focused on the implementation of CUSS kiosks at airports around the world in order to provide additional check-in capacity and added convenience.

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Aviation Organisations Launch Safety Information Exchange

Airport news / 31 March 2010 /

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), along with three governmental aviation safety organizations, took the first step to creating a global information exchange to improve aviation safety.

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Strong February Demand – Regaining Lost Ground

Airport news / 30 March 2010 /

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that February 2010 international scheduled air traffic showed continued strengthening of demand. Compared to February 2009, passenger demand was up 9.5%, while cargo demand grew 26.5%.

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IATA Statement on US-EU Agreement

Airport news / 25 March 2010 /

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released the following comments in response to today’s Memorandum of Consultation on Second Stage Open Skies agreement between the US and the European Union:

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Strategy for Profitable Growth in Latin America

Airport news / 24 March 2010 /

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced an industry strategy for profitable growth in Latin American aviation. “Profitable growth requires that all aviation stakeholders in Latin America—airlines, airports and infrastructure providers— work with a common vision to achieve our priorities: safety, security, cost reduction, environmental responsibility and liberalization,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO in the opening address of the Wings of Change conference in Santiago, Chile.

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FAME / Airport aviation fuelling

Issue 6 2009, Past issues / 11 December 2009 /

In an effort to reduce emissions and greenhouse gases, and to increase fuel supply security, biofuel mandates have become increasingly prevalent. Existing legislation includes Directive 2003/30/EC of the European Parliament, the Energy Independence and Security Act (US), and the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (US). In addition, Canadian provincial governments have legislation planned. Mandates such as these have made biodiesel and ethanol two of the most widely accepted biofuels in the world today. Unfortunately, biodiesel and jet fuel can be incompatible, and cross-contamination is a threat facing the aviation industry.

Biodiesel is manufactured using a chemical process called transesterification (see Figure 1 opposite). Manufacturers react methanol with an oil (triglyceride) such as vegetable oil, animal fat or used cooking oil to produce Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) and glycerol. The ester is called biodiesel and has properties similar to petroleum diesel. (more…)

ISAGO – Moving forward

Issue 5 2009, Past issues / 29 September 2009 /

IATA’s Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO) is gaining great momentum throughout the industry, and is closing in on its first milestone target – 100 audits – which is expected to be reached by early October. The growth in audit numbers is impressive, but what’s more important is the number of companies actively applying the ISAGO standards and preparing for an audit in due course.

ISAGO is designed for ground handling companies operating at airports. The aims of the programme are simple – improving operational safety, reducing ground damage and promoting audit efficiency. ISAGO audits are already being carried out worldwide, in locations as diverse as Harare, Hanoi, Hong Kong and Hurghadah. Twenty ground handling companies are already on the ISAGO registry, meaning that their corporate audit and at least one of their airport stations has been fully audited (the registry listing can be found at www.iata.org/isago).

ISAGO corporate audits, which focus on organisation and management systems, are carried out by the same audit organisations that IATA uses for IOSA audits. At the station level, where the audits are more numerous, IATA has formed a pool of auditors drawn from existing auditors in its member airlines that would normally be doing station audits for their own airline. To date, 38 IATA member airlines have joined the pool. (more…)

Taking aim at mishandling: IATA targets a 50% reduction in mishandled bags by 2012

Issue 2 2009, Past issues / 31 March 2009 /

Although airlines get baggage right 98% of the time, mishandling costs the industry US$3.8 billion every year. Between 2005 and 2007 the number of mishandled baggage increased three times faster than passenger growth. In the EU the mishandlings rose 28% while passenger growth increased by 9%. In the USA, mishandled baggage increased by 27%, while passenger numbers grew 10.5%.

Baggage is also a big issue for customers. Mishandled baggage is among the top two concerns for travellers according to the 2009 IATA Corporate Air Travel Survey (CATS), a survey of travellers conducted worldwide (see Figure 1). (more…)

Fuel for thought

Issue 2 2009, Past issues / 31 March 2009 /

An interview with Jeff Poole, Director of Industry Charges, Fuel and Taxation, IATA. (more…)

An interview with Paul Behan, Programme Manager, Fast Travel programmes, IATA

Issue 6 2008, Past issues / 3 December 2008 /

Following the success of electronic ticketing, the IATA Board of Governors has asked IATA to look at other elements of the passenger journey, in order to offer a self service option for passengers to choose. IATA went out to passengers through their Corporate Air Travel Survey (CATS) and independently surveyed 11,000 passengers. We spoke with Paul to find out more about how IATA’s Fast Travel programme will revolutionise the way in which we pass through an airport. (more…)