The global airline industry is expected to reap net profits of US$36.6 billion in 2025, up 16 per cent from an estimated US$31.5 billion this year, despite ongoing cost and supply chain challenges, an international trade body has said, while predicting more affordable airfares.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said the increase would be driven by lower oil prices, maintenance of high load factors and tightly controlled costs, with airlines managing to achieve growth following an “extraordinary” pandemic recovery.
“We’re expecting airlines to deliver a global profit of US$36.6 billion in 2025,” Willie Walsh, director general of airline trade body IATA, said on Tuesday.
“This will be hard-earned as airlines take advantage of lower oil prices while keeping load factors above 83 per cent … and managing the return to more normal growth levels following the extraordinary pandemic recovery.
“All these efforts will help to mitigate several drags on profitability which are outside of airlines’ control, namely persistent supply chain challenges, infrastructure deficiencies, onerous regulation and a rising tax burden.”
The load factor is a measure of how well an airline is filling available seats.
IATA said it expected the industry’s revenues to reach US$1 trillion next year, an increase of 4.4 per cent from 2024, with a profit margin of 3.6 per cent against this year’s 3.3 per cent.
