IATA Airlines Financial Monitor - December 2018

We are pleased to send you herewith the December report of the Airlines Financial Monitor. 

Photo by: @IATA

Key points:     

• The final financial results from Q3 indicate a further squeeze on airline profit margins resulting from higher input costs last year. Free cash flow generation also declined moderately in the quarter.
• Equity markets have been volatile in recent months. Global airline share prices fell by almost 10% in December, offsetting the similarly sized increase observed in November as market sentiment on airlines moved with oil prices and recession risk. 
• The Brent Crude oil price is currently around USD US60/bbl, ~30% lower compared to the values seen during the price peak in early October. Jet fuel prices are trending close to USD US78/bbl.
• Base fare passenger yields have continued to come under downward pressure. That said, yields in the less price-sensitive premium cabin have trended upwards recently, helping airlines to recover part of the pick-up in unit costs.
• Industry-wide revenue passenger kilometers rose by 6.2% year-on-year in November, whereas freight volumes stopped growing. Capacity has not slowed with traffic, and therefore load factors are falling. 

View full report 

Press release IATA