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Might make you just a little bit more angry when you’re paying $35 to check a bag.
Forecasts from the International Air Transport Association anticipate airline profits to climb to $8.9 billion in 2010, a tripling of the group’s previous forecasts. The reason? More butts back in the seats. Passenger traffic is climbing and freight traffic increased as well.
But analysts weren’t so quick to assume a turbulence-free 2011. The tapering off of economic-stimulus packages may nip any further growth of airline profits in the coming year. “This year is as good as it gets,” Giovanni Bisignani, IATA director general, told the New York Times. “This is the peak of the cycle.” (via the New York Times)