IATA has lowered its estimate for 2006 industry losses from $3 billion to $1.7 billion. The association says restructuring efforts and strong economic growth, which is now showing some signs of slowing especially in North America (see page 14), drove the $1.3 billion improvement. North American carriers are still expected to incur net losses of $4.5 billion while Asian and European carriers are now expected to end the year $1.7 billion and $1.8 billion in the black, respectively.

Source: Airline Business