(MENAFN- Jordan Times) Jordan has been a leader in the region's aviation industry for some time and that is due in no small measure to government support, International Air Transport Association (IATA) Director General and Chief Executive Officer Tony Tyler told journalists at a roundtable on Tuesday.
The government promotes an aviation-friendly policy and keeps costs down, "recognising the value aviation brings to the economy, through business and tourism", said Tyler, adding that Royal Jordanian is "a well-run airline, has been around for 48 years and does a good job at representing Jordan abroad".
Giving an outlook of the local and regional situation, the IATA head said the industry still makes a profit in the Middle East, but the forecast for this year's regional revenues stands at $400 million, down from last year's $1 billion.
That is a precarious situation, particularly in view of the political circumstances in the region, the unpredictability of oil prices and the euro crisis.
"On June 11 we issued our latest forecast for the industry this year. It was not an encouraging report. Globally, airlines will make just $3 billion, on revenues of $631 billion - that's a margin of only 0.5 per cent. We remain extremely vulnerable to external shocks, especially the price of oil and the weakness in the eurozone," said Tyler.
The MENA region does not fare much better, but "there are some encouraging signs - load factors remain high, which should be boosted by capacity growing 0.8 per centage points slower than demand", the IATA head added indicating that the strength of the cargo market in the region has been "particularly notable", MENA carriers having taken 80 per cent of all the expansion in the freight market since November last year.
Competition, particularly from low-cost carriers and government-subsidised airlines, the European Emission Trading Scheme - which "is poisoning the atmosphere" and to which "a global solution has to be found" - the effect of the Arab Spring on air traffic, safety and Europe's banning of some airlines were some of the issued tackled by the IATA head, who still sees fuel prices and the prospect of the financial crisis in Europe causing an economic meltdown as the biggest threat to the aviation industry at the moment.
The countries that witnessed the Arab Spring have shown signs of recovery - less so Syria - said Tyler, who outlined IATA's role in helping airlines in these difficult times.
"IATA helps services and activities. Most importantly, it promotes safety in the region, works with governments to improve management of the airspace, manages the industry money to minimise loss, works with airports and governments to keep cost of services down, helps airlines by promoting e-freight and fast travel programmes, helps them use fuel efficiently, documents best practice," Tyler told journalists.
Earlier in the day, the IATA chief executive officer was received by Prince Feisal and by Transport Minister Hashem Masaeed, "for talks on aviation issues in the region".
IATA's Amman office, which represents 28 member airlines in the Middle East and North Africa, serves 66 countries. The office is run by Hussein Dabbas, with "a 30-year career in aviation", who took over from Majdi Sabri, who had served as "regional vice president for the Middle East and North Africa" for 11 years.
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