Global passenger air traffic will probably rise 4 percent this year as demand for travel recovers from the impact of the Iraq war, SARS and slowing economies last year, the UN civil aviation authority said.
Airlines worldwide carried 1.6 billion passengers last year on international and domestic flights, said Assad Kotaite, president of the council of the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Air traffic may grow another 5 percent next year, he said at a conference in Singapore.
"To have this increase, we have to ensure safety and security of the flights," Kotaite said.
Singapore Airlines Ltd and other Asian carriers have been resuming flights as demand picked up after severe acute respiratory syndrome subsided and the war in Iraq ended. British Airways Plc, Europe's largest carrier, last week said last month's passenger traffic rose 4.8 percent, the eighth consecutive gain.
The increased traffic may help airlines regain profitability after they lost an estimated US$5 billion and US$6.5 billion on international routes alone last year, according to a previous forecast by International Air Transport Association.
Kotaite also said the organization's council will meet in May to review security recommendations for airports worldwide.
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