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DUBLIN (Reuters) – Global airlines should make more money than previously expected this year, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Thursday, with low oil prices and work airlines are doing to fill planes and drive ancillary revenues helping profits.
IATA said it now forecast net profit of $ 39.4 billion (27.32 billion pounds) for the airline industry this year, against a previous estimate for $ 36.3 billion (25.17 billion pounds), with over half of the profits due to be achieved by North American carriers.
That would be the fifth straight year of improving profits, giving a net profit margin of 5.6 percent.
“Lower oil prices are certainly helping, though tempered by hedging and exchange rates. In fact, we are probably nearing the peak of the positive stimulus from lower prices,” IATA head Tony Tyler said at the association’s annual meeting in Dublin.
(Reporting by Victoria Bryan and Tim Hepher; Editing by Maria Sheahan)
