AIRLINES’ OPERATING REVENUES ROSE BY 3.7% IN 1999

AIRLINES’ OPERATING REVENUES ROSE BY 3.7% IN 1999

   Airlines’ operating revenues increased by 3.7 percent in 1999, to about $306.5 billion, according to preliminary estimates released by the International Civil Aviation Organization.

   Based on preliminary figures covering both passenger and cargo operations for scheduled airlines of International Civil Aviation Organization contracting countries, the world’s scheduled airlines made an operating profit of 4.1 percent of operating revenues.

   While operating revenues rose by 3.7 percent last year, operating expenses rose by 5.2 percent. Yield per ton-kilometer performed dropped from 80.6 cents in 1998 to an estimated 78.9 cents in 1999, the international agency said.

   Airlines’ collective net results after inclusion of non-operating items such as interest and subsidies and deduction of income taxes is expected to be lower than in 1998, when it was 2.8 per cent of operating revenues, the International Civil Aviation Organization said.

   “Rising fuel prices, combined in the Europe and Latin America/Caribbean regions with a decline in yields…, have negatively affected financial results of the world’s airlines,” the International Civil Aviation Organization commented.

   European and African carriers nevertheless achieved a positive operating result in 1999, while those of Latin America/Caribbean and the Middle East were close to breakeven.

   Fuel costs are likely to be a more significant factor in airline financial accounts for the year 2000, the International Civil Aviation Organization said.