Association claims European airlines will be lucky to break even due to fuel costs

Airline Industry Information, Oct 12, 2004

AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2004 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

Despite an 8.5% rise in passenger traffic in 2004 the head of the Association of European Airlines (AEA) has said that he expects rising fuel costs to wipe out any profits its members may have made.

Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus, the AEA's director general, said that its members could at best hope to break even.

In 2003 the 31 AEA members made a total loss of EUR1.25bn, the fifth straight year of losses, with the Iraq war and SARS outbreak contributing to an already depressed market following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The market seemed to be improving in 2004 but with the price of a barrel of oil now reaching USD54 extra fuel costs are likely to wipe out any profit gains made, reports The Associated Press.

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