World Airlines’ 2005 Loss May Widen as Oil Cost Gains

Total global airline losses will widen 25 percent this year to a record $6 billion, worse than expected, as fuel and wage bills surge, the industry-funded International Air Transport Association said.

Airlines’ fuel bills will rise 31 percent to a total $83 billion this year, based on an average crude-oil price of $47 a barrel, IATA Director-General Giovanni Bisignani said at a conference today in Tokyo. Combined losses will be 9 percent more than the $5.5 billion Geneva-based IATA forecast last month.
Bloomberg