Despite overall profitability in Europe, Britain’s airlines are set to struggle further.

Airport news for Flights,Travel on 23/09/2010.

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Industrial action is combining with the economic recession to give the UK’s airlines yet another year of struggle. This, despite what is set to be a bumper year for global aviation. The sobering news about Britain’s aviation was announced by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

IATA said the world’s aviation industry is expected to hit a profit of almost $9 billion in 2010. This compares to a loss of roughly $10 billion dollars in 2009. However, IATA warned that aviation in the UK, which is the biggest air-travel market in Europe, would struggle in the fact of the weak economy and passenger taxes, leaving it far behind the USA and Asia.

IATA revised its previous profit forecast for the global industry this year from $2.5 billion to $8.9 billion. It pointed out that had it not been for the Europe market, which is expected to lose $1.3 billion dollars, the global figures would have been markedly better. IATA also singled out Britain as the weakest market in Europe. It said passenger volumes in the UK have hardly recovered. IATA blames this on the recession and the increase in travel costs caused by the air passenger travel tax.

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