How bad is the air travel demand picture for airlines?

A series traffic figures for the year so far show that nobody can now be in any doubt as to the severity of the economic crisis. Numbers in the air cargo sector, an early indicator of the economic crisis, have been on a downward spiral for the last eight months and falling sharply since December. The figures for passenger traffic have also been on the slide, with premium demand in particular suffering. IATA's latest premium traffic report for January show customers traveling on first and business class tickets in January fell 16.7%.

Here we have pulled together a number of key indicators and viewpoints on just how market looks for airlines right now.


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Comment: Business travel continues sharp decline - The sharp drop in business travel began in September last year following the financial market meltdown. The transatlantic market was the first to suffer. Now, as we move towards the second quarter, the evidence that markets across the globe are suffering in equal and sometimes greater measure is overwhelming. Read more on the IATA January global traffic and premium traffic reports here.

US Airways highlight unpredictable demand - Echoing similar sentiments expressed by its fellow network carriers, US Airways is highlighting sagging demand, and stresses the difficulty of predicting when it might stabilise.


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Global demand for premium travel plummets - Plummeting premium passenger demand has meant that hopes of a global airline recovery have been dashed. Plus click here for more on how fears of demage to corporate reputations is making the US business travel slump even more precipitous.

See how airlines are reacting to changing demand, as Emirates pulls its A380 of JFK to serve Toronto and Bangkok,while US carriers cut their international exposure and Lufthansa moves to a mixed-class configuration on two of the Privatair business aircraft which operate for the carrier