The International Air Transport Sector

Air transport is a rapidly growing sector in many economies. The airline industry is now facing one of the biggest crises in its history. Despite a decade of growth and the formation of strong global alliances, the industry has not been able to absorb the shock. Even government support has not prevented a number of large international airlines from going under. In the same decade airports have transformed from a public service to a value creator in a transport network.

Two thousand eight was an exceptionally challenging year Airlines were hit first by an unprecedented spike in oil prices and then by a precipitous drop in revenues caused by a collapse in world trade and the start of what is looking to be the deepest recession since the 1930s.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced international scheduled traffic results for August 2009. Compared to August 2008, passenger demand was down 1.1% (an improvement compared to the 2.9% decline in July), and freight demand fell by 9.6% (also an improvement compared to the 11.3% drop in July).

ECSEI analysis covering the air freight industry It includes detailed data on market size and segmentation, textual analysis of the key trends and competitive landscape, and profiles of the leading companies we are  provides expert analysis on a global, regional and country basis.

IATA continues to work with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)

The International Air Transport Association (IATA)

IATA is an international trade body, created some 60 years ago by a group of airlines. Today, IATA represents some 230 airlines comprising 93% of scheduled international air traffic. The organization also represents, leads and serves the airline industry in general. IATA was formed in April 1945, in Havana, Cuba .IATA’s stated mission is to represent, lead and serve the airline industry.

IATA Activities: For fare calculations IATA has divided the world in three regions:

1-South, Central and North America.

2-Europe, Middle East and Africa. IATA Europe includes the geographical Europe and 

   Turkey, Israel, Morocco , Algeria and Tunisia  

3- Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the islands of the Pacific Ocean.

IATA is working hand-in-hand with its members to help airlines with at least three top priorities in surviving a crisis:

•  Improving safety,

•  Conserving cash and

• Cutting costs.

  The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO),

A specialized agency of the United Nations was created with the signing in Chicago, on 7 December 1944, of the Convention on International Civil Aviation. ICAO is the permanent body charged with the administration of the principles laid out in the Convention.

The aims and objectives of ICAO, as contained in Article 44 of the Chicago Convention, are to develop the principles and techniques of international air navigation and to foster the planning and development of international air transport so as to:

• insure the safe and orderly growth of international civil aviation throughout the world;

•  encourage the arts of aircraft design and operation for peaceful purposes;

• encourage the development of airways, airports and air navigation facilities for international civil aviation;

•  meet the needs of the peoples of the world for safe, regular, efficient and economical air transport;

• prevent economic waste caused by unreasonable competition;

• insure that the rights of Contracting States are fully respected and that every Contracting State has a fair opportunity to operate international airlines;

• avoid discrimination between Contracting States;

• promote safety of flight in international air navigation;

• promote generally the development of all aspects of international civil aeronautics.

The Convention on International Civil Aviation (also known as Chicago Convention),

was signed on 7 December 1944 by 52 States andThe Chicago Convention of 1944 confronted the new international potentials of civil aviation and initiated an institutional structure that laid common ground rules for bilateral air service agreements (ASAs) between nationals.  

• Annexes to the Convention

• Annex 1 — Personnel Licensing

• Annex 2 — Rules of the Air

• Annex 3 — Meteorological Service for International Air Navigation

• Annex 4 — Aeronautical Charts

• Annex 5 — Units of Measurement to be Used in Air and Ground Operations

• Annex 6 — Operation of Aircraft

• Annex 7 — Aircraft Nationality and Registration Marks

• Annex 8 — Airworthiness of Aircraft

• Annex 9 — Facilitation

• Annex 10 — Aeronautical Telecommunications

• Annex 11 — Air Traffic Services

• Annex 12 — Search and Rescue

• Annex 13 — Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation

• Annex 14 — Aerodromes

• Annex 15 — Aeronautical Information Services

• Annex 16 — Environmental Protection

• Annex 17 — Security — Safeguarding International Civil Aviation Against Acts of Unlawful Interference

• Annex 18 — The Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air

 Air Freight Global Industry

Market Definition:

The air freight and logistics sector is defined here as consisting of revenues generated from freight and mail transportation by air. Charter flights are excluded from this analysis. Units of volume of air freight are in tonne-kms. Air freight volumes include both inbound and outbound figures in a country. Regional market values are sums of countries in that region and therefore intraregional air freight is not subtracted.

International Freight Demand in 2008

Compared to the low point of December 2008, seasonally adjusted freight demand has improved by 12%, but remains exceptionally weak at 16% below April 2008 levels when the fall in demand began. All regions saw improved demand conditions in August compared to July:

• Latin American and the Middle Eastern carriers were the only regions to report       growth of 3.9% and 3.0% respectively.

• Asia Pacific carriers, representing 44% of the global freight market, saw year-on-year demand improve marginally from -9.5% to -9.0% in August compared to July.

• North American carriers saw a slightly larger improvement from -14.6% in July to -     12.1% in August.

•  This is similar to the -16.2% to -14.5% improvement registered by European carriers.

•  African carriers saw the largest improvement - from -25.9% in July to -5.1% in August. the region’s small market size exaggerates any shifts.