DUBAI – Middle East carriers will post a loss of $400 million this year, $100 million more than estimated earlier, as yields remain low despite a double-digit passenger growth, an industry group said on Thursday.

The rise in loss for Middle Eastern carriers is in contrast to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) halving its loss forecast for the global aviation industry to $2.8 billion.

The Middle East leads other regions in passenger growth but yields remain under pressure from rising seat capacity as airlines take delivery of new planes.

“Middle East carriers are expected to experience demand growth of 15.2 percent in 2010, but will see losses of $400 million. Low yields in long-haul markets connected over Middle East hubs is a burden on profitability,” IATA said in a statement.

According to the group, the revised forecast for international aviation is driven by a strong recovery in demand that began towards 2009-end and continues in the first quarter this year. It said revenues will improve as capacity has not grown with a rise in demand.

“We are seeing a definite two-speed industry. Asia and Latin America are driving the recovery. The weakest international markets are North Atlantic and intra-Europe which have continuously contracted since mid-2008,” Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s director-general said in a statement.

Middle East passenger traffic jumped 23.6 percent in January compared to the same month last year, starting 2010 off on a good note after one of the worst years the global aviation industry has ever seen.

Regional carriers saw traffic rise 19 percent in December and 11.2 percent during the whole of last year.

Global passenger traffic also improved in January, rising 6.4 percent on a year ago after seeing 4.5 percent growth in December, IATA said.

Source: business.maktoob.com