Tag: Aviation

Air New Zealand has reported a four-fold increase in profits for 2009, prompting speculation the global aviation industry may be emerging from the recession.

After taxation, the airline made a profit of NZ$82 million for the year ending June 30th, up from NZ$21 a year earlier.

Fuel hedging losses at the airline also dropped to NZ$8 million from $130 million.

Aviation enjoyed its second safest year on record during 2009, according to statistics from the International Air Travel Association (IATA), despite several high profile accidents.

According to IATA data, the 2009 global accident rate - measured in hull losses per million flights of Western-built jet aircraft - was 0.71.

That is equal to one accident for every 1.4 million flights, and a significant improvement on the rate of 0.81 rate recorded in 2008.

Advanced technology won't be enough for the industry to meet its own greenhouse-gas targets.

Last week the global aviation industry called on the United Nations to establish a single, worldwide policy for reducing aviation greenhouse-gas emissions, in an attempt to avoid a costly network of regional regulations. The industry proposed two primary goals--that by 2020 it should stop increasing its greenhouse emissions, and that by 2050 it should cut its emissions by 50 percent compared to 2005 levels.