Air freight traffic jumped by almost a quarter in December in a positive end to the aviation industry's worst year, showing economic recovery is picking up steam.
But the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said the aviation sector would face a tough 2010 making up for the lost demand in 2009 and handling new security demands.
"The industry starts 2010 with some enormous challenges. The worst is behind us, but it is not time to celebrate," IATA director-general Giovanni Bisignani said in a statement.
The slump in demand in 2009, the worst year in the industry's history, meant airlines would face another spartan year adjusting to two-and-a-half lost years of passenger growth and three-and-a-half years of lost freight growth, he said.
This would require airlines to focus on matching capacity to demand and controlling costs, he said.
"In terms of demand, 2009 goes into the history books as the worst year the industry has even seen," Mr Bisignani said.
IATA said air cargo traffic - a barometer of the strength of world trade - in December was 24.4 per cent higher than a year earlier. Its load factor, an industry measure of capacity utilisation, was 54.1.
But this year-on-year strength was exaggerated by an unusually weak December 2008, the low-point in the cycle.
For 2009 as a whole, freight demand fell 10.1 per cent - in line with the World Trade Organisation's forecast for the contraction in global trade - for a load factor of 49.1.
Passenger demand rose 4.5 per cent in December for a load factor of 77.6, but for the year as a whole it fell 3.5 percent, giving a load factor of 75.6, said IATA, which groups 230 airlines including British Airways, Singapore Airlines, and Emirates.
Mr Bisignani said the aviation industry would have to face tougher security requirements following an attempt to blow up a US passenger jet on December 25th.
Mr Bisignani said global airlines were spending $5.9 billion a year on security measures, which were the responsibility of governments who should be picking up the bill.
IATA has forecast that airlines will lose $5.6 billion on a net basis this year after losing $11 billion in 2009.
Reuters