IATA forecasts “cautious optimism” to extend into 2019

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) forecasts the global airline industry net profit to be $35.5 billion in 2019, slightly ahead of the $32.3 billion expected net profit in 2018 (revised down from $33.8 billion forecast in June). In its latest semi-annual economic forecast, IATA expects the industry’s return on invested capital to be 8.6%, which is unchanged from 2018, with the margin on net post-tax profits expected be 4.0% (basically unchanged from 3.9% in 2018). IATA expects the overall industry revenues to reach $885 billion (+7.7% on $821 billion in 2018), and passenger numbers to reach 4.59 billion (up