Airlines are set to suffer bigger than expected losses of US$5.6 billion next year despite a recovery in passenger traffic, the air transport industry association IATA said yesterday.
“The association revised its financial outlook for 2010 to an expected US$5.6 billion global net loss, larger than the previously forecast loss of US$3.8 billion,” IATA said in a statement.
The figure nonetheless marked a halving of the US$11 billion losses airlines are expected to suffer this year as a patchy economic recovery slowly gains ground.
“We are ending an annus horribilis that rings to a close the 10 challenging years of an aviation decennus horribilis,” IATA director-general Giovanni Bisignani said.
“Between 2000 and 2009, airlines lost US$49.1 billion, which is an average of US$5 billion per year,” he added.
Passenger demand is expected to grow by a stronger than expected 4.5 percent, following a decline of 4.1 percent this year, as passenger numbers return to the 2007 peak next year with an estimated 2.28 billion passengers.
“The worst is behind us,” Bisignani said. “Demand will likely continue to improve and airlines are expected to drive down non-fuel unit costs by 1.3 percent.”
“But fuel costs are rising and yields are a continuing disaster,” Bisignani told journalists.
Emerging markets were leading the improving economic climate, but the recovery was at its weakest and slowest in the biggest air travel markets in Europe and across the Atlantic, IATA chief economist Brian Pearce said.
IATA officials warned that significant cuts, including on wages, would be the norm.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS