Drop in air traffic slows in April; EADS sees Airbus order goal as "challenging"

Published 10:48 am Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Air traffic continues to drop but the decline is slowing, said the International Air Transport Association on Wednesday.

Passenger traffic was down 3.1 percent in April over April 2008. And cargo was down 21.7 percent over the previous April, IATA reported.

The decline in passenger traffic slowed compared to March, when it had dropped 11.1 percent over March 2008. However, IATA notes that the Easter holiday fell in April, skewing the data by as much as 2 percent.

Cargo traffic has been down 20 percent or better for five consecutive months, IATA said.

“We are not out of the woods yet,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s director general and CEO. “The demand improvements that we saw in April are welcome. But the 3.1 percent decline in passenger demand still outstripped the 2.5 percent cutback in capacity. …freight remains at shockingly low levels.

“The worst may be over. However, we have not yet seen any signs that recovery is imminent,” said Bisignani.

The decline in air traffic has affected jet makers the Boeing Co. and Airbus.

Through May 19, Boeing has net zero commercial jet orders for the year.

And EADS, the parent company of Airbus, says it’s becoming “more and more challenging” for Airbus to meet its orders goal of 300 for the year, reports Reuters.