Real cost of air travel has reduced 34% over last decade: IATA Chief

Dubai: The real cost of air travel has fallen 34 per cent over the last decade and the profit retained by airlines per passenger is just about USD 6.14, an amount that can get you one espresso, IATA Director General Willie Walsh said on Monday.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is a grouping of more than 330 airlines.

Addressing the 80th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of IATA here, Walsh said flying remains good value for money.

"77 per cent of the 6,500 travellers we recently polled in 15 markets said as much. That's not surprising considering that the real cost of air travel has fallen 34 per cent over the last decade," he said.

He noted that for all the value airlines create, the profit retained by them per passenger is USD 6.14. "To translate into the coffee benchmark that has become an AGM tradition, that buys one single espresso in this hotel's coffee shop".

The AGM is taking place in a prominent five star hotel in Dubai.

For 2024, airlines globally are expected to record a revenue of almost USD 1 trillion.

Emphasising the need to increase the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), Walsh said that achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 is existential, not optional.

This year, SAF production is expected to reach a little over 0.5 per cent of the aviation sector's total fuel needs.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has agreed to a target of reducing 5 per cent emissions through SAF by 2030.

"To be blunt, governments must deliver concrete measures to facilitate the exponential ramp-up of SAF they are calling for, while not forgetting all the other decarbonisation measures that are needed," he said.