The International Air Transport Association says it expects airline companies to record combined net profits of $US18 billion ($A19.48 billion) this year.
Revenues were forecast to reach $US746 billion, IATA director general Tony Tyler said in Doha on Monday, pointing out that net margins stood to average 2.4 per cent only.
"It sounds impressive. But the brutal economic reality is on revenues of $US746 billion dollars we will earn an average net margin of just 2.4 per cent," he said.
This amounted to less than $US6 per passenger, added Tyler, who was speaking at an IATA-organised annual conference of the airline industry in the Qatari capital.
IATA said in March that some 240 carriers representing 84 per cent of global air traffic had revised down their profit forecast for 2014 to $US18.7 billion from $US19.7 billion.
Tyler said the industry was celebrating 100 years of aviation in which 3.3 billion passengers will have travelled and 52 million tonnes of cargo transported.
In total, some 50,000 destinations are linked through around 100,000 daily flights, while the industry generates more than 58 million job opportunities worldwide.
Share
