FrenchieGirl
Senior Moderator
Link: Air cargo/global logistics: Ailing airlines now confronting Swine Flu challenge
Air cargo/global logistics: Ailing airlines now confronting Swine Flu challenge
Patrick Burnson -- Executive Editor -- Logistics Management, 4/29/2009
SAN FRANCISCO?While the negative impact of the Swine Flu epidemic touches every mode of transportation and the supply chain, the air cargo industry is taking the hardest hit.
?Fewer passengers mean less lift for existing flights, and a reduction in schedules for shippers to adhere to,? said Brandon Fried, executive director of the Airforwarders Association (AfA). ?This really could not have come at a worse time for our business.?
Numbers released by The International Air Transport Association (IATA) yesterday confirmed this observation. According to the Geneva-based organization, scheduled international traffic demand fell to 11.1 percent below March 2008 levels. Airlines cut international passenger capacity by 4.4 percent resulting in an average load factor of 72.1 percent. This is 5.4 percentage points below the average load factor recorded in March 2008.
?Safety, as always, is our number one priority,? said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA?s Director General and CEO.
He said that IATA is working in close cooperation with the World Health Organization to ensure an efficient response of the air transport industry to the challenges that Swine Influenza will present.
?But it is still too early to judge what the Swine Flu will have on the bottom line. It is a sure thing that anything that shakes the confidence of passengers will be a negative for business. And the timing could not be worse given all of the other economic problems airlines are facing.?
Indeed, even before this crisis, IATA was sounding an alarm.
?Airlines cannot adjust capacity to match demand. Load factors have dipped sharply from last year. All of this is hitting revenues hard,? said Bisignani.
For Fried, the implications were running even deeper.
?This may have a profound effect on U.S. worker productivity, too,? he said. ?That means fewer products in the supply chain and less factory orders. For now, the issue is definitely high on our radar screen.?
Air cargo/global logistics: Ailing airlines now confronting Swine Flu challenge
Patrick Burnson -- Executive Editor -- Logistics Management, 4/29/2009
SAN FRANCISCO?While the negative impact of the Swine Flu epidemic touches every mode of transportation and the supply chain, the air cargo industry is taking the hardest hit.
?Fewer passengers mean less lift for existing flights, and a reduction in schedules for shippers to adhere to,? said Brandon Fried, executive director of the Airforwarders Association (AfA). ?This really could not have come at a worse time for our business.?
Numbers released by The International Air Transport Association (IATA) yesterday confirmed this observation. According to the Geneva-based organization, scheduled international traffic demand fell to 11.1 percent below March 2008 levels. Airlines cut international passenger capacity by 4.4 percent resulting in an average load factor of 72.1 percent. This is 5.4 percentage points below the average load factor recorded in March 2008.
?Safety, as always, is our number one priority,? said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA?s Director General and CEO.
He said that IATA is working in close cooperation with the World Health Organization to ensure an efficient response of the air transport industry to the challenges that Swine Influenza will present.
?But it is still too early to judge what the Swine Flu will have on the bottom line. It is a sure thing that anything that shakes the confidence of passengers will be a negative for business. And the timing could not be worse given all of the other economic problems airlines are facing.?
Indeed, even before this crisis, IATA was sounding an alarm.
?Airlines cannot adjust capacity to match demand. Load factors have dipped sharply from last year. All of this is hitting revenues hard,? said Bisignani.
For Fried, the implications were running even deeper.
?This may have a profound effect on U.S. worker productivity, too,? he said. ?That means fewer products in the supply chain and less factory orders. For now, the issue is definitely high on our radar screen.?