Enlightened Engagement

 MIT has a global airline industry program. Research reports and academic books on airlines are very rare. Here are few interesting facts on global airline industry and US airline industry published by MIT.  

• The global airline industry consists of over 2000 airlines operating more than 23,000 aircraft, providing service to over 3700 airports.
• In 2006, the world’s airlines flew almost 28 million scheduled flight departures and carried over 2 billion passengers.
• The growth of world air travel has averaged approximately 5% per year over the past 30 years.Historically, the annual growth in air travel has been about twice the annual growth in GDP. 
• In the US airline industry, approximately 100 certificated passenger airlines operate over 11 million flight departures per year, and carry over one-third of the world’s total air traffic.
• US airlines enplaned 745 million passengers in 2006 and reported over $160 billion in total revenues, with approximately 545,000 employees and over 8,000 aircraft operating 31,000 flights per day.
• After the world airline industry posted 4 consecutive years of losses totaling over $22 billion from 1990 to 1993, as a result of the Gulf War and subsequent economic recession, it returned to record profitability in the late 1990s, with total net profits in excess of $25 billion being reported by world airlines from 1995 to 1999.
• Airline industry plunged into record operating losses and a financial crisis between 2000 and 2005, with cumulative net losses of $40 billion.
• The profitability results for 2006 were positive for most conventional airlines, while several Low Cost operators struggled financially. The US industry as a whole posted an aggregate net profit of $3 billion (excluding restructuring and bankruptcy costs).
  The US industry is expected to post a $4 billion net profit in 2007.

Source : MIT global Airline industry program

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