Air traffic demand improving, profit far away-IATA

Published: 29 Sep 2009 00:13:17 PST

ZURICH, Sept 29 - The sharp drop in air traffic demand continued to ease in August, data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) showed on Tuesday.

But the industry had a long way to go before returning to profits, IATA said.

Airlines carried 9.6 percent less cargo than a year ago and passenger demand declined by 1.1 percent on the year, IATA said.

Both declines were nonetheless an improvement compared to the sharp decline so far this year.

Air freight demand was down 18 percent in the first eight months of 2009 compared to the year-ago period. Passenger demand was down 6 percent on the year.