The International Air Transport Association (IATA), meeting at its General Assembly in Dubai, predicts that by 2024 airlines will have made a net profit of more than 30 billion dollars. The airlines expect to carry nearly five billion passengers this year, far exceeding the record set in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic, their main organisation announced on Monday

At the meeting, IATA revised upwards its previous profit projections for 2024, from $25.7 billion to $30.5 billion, on an unprecedented turnover of $996 billion.

‘These expected results represent a huge success given the recent severe losses due to the pandemic,’ IATA Director General Willie Walsh told delegates. IATA federates 320 airlines representing 83% of world traffic.

The 4.96 billion passengers forecast for 2024 would far exceed the record of 4.54 billion set in 2019. The association initially forecast 4.7 billion air travellers in 2024. The health crisis plunged the airline industry into abysmal losses, which IATA has estimated at 183 billion dollars between 2020 and 2022.

The projected profits of 30.5 billion dollars for 2024 mark an increase on the 25.7 billion previously estimated. IATA estimates that in 2023, airlines generated 27.4 billion dollars, compared with 23.3 billion in its previous forecast.