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| Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe | ||
Mr Fyfe will be one of five panellists on the chief executive forum at the two-day International Air Transport Association annual meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
More than 500 aviation industry bigwigs from around the world will attend the conference and the struggles of many airlines will likely dominate discussion.
The International Air Transport Association says the airline industry is expected to lose $9 billion in 2009.
IATA says the figure is nearly double the association's March estimate of $4.7 billion. The group has also revised its loss estimate for 2008 to $10.4 billion from $8.5 billion.
IATA represents 230 airline companies worldwide.
The group's chief Giovanni Bisignani says "the ground has shifted" after the global economic meltdown. He told IATA's annual meeting Monday that the industry's future depends on a "drastic reshaping" of the way it does business.
IATA says revenues will decline an unprecedented 15 percent from $528 billion in 2008 to $448 billion in 2009.
The latest stats from Iata show that the drop in passenger and cargo numbers has more than matched the fall in fuel prices, with 50 airlines losing a combined US$3.3 billion dollars in the first quarter.
Passenger numbers internationally were down 11% in March and 3.1% in April compared to the same months last year, and cargo demand fell 22% in April.
And in further bad news for airlines, the price of jet fuel is on the way back up, rising to a six-month high of US$75 a barrel last week.
Iata director general Giovanni Bisignani sums up the dire mood: "The air transport industry is once again meeting in crisis, this time as a result of the global financial meltdown."
Air New Zealand has not been immune to the slump – last Friday it flew its first Boeing 747-400 to Roswell, New Mexico to be dismantled for parts as it looks to raise cash while cutting capacity to meet falling demand.
The airline has also recently signalled up to 80 more job losses and has announced a pay freeze for employees earning more than $80,000 a year.
(AP)
