Geneva: High taxes on fuel and rising operating costs were acting as a constraint to the growth of the aviation industry in India, global airlines' body IATA said Wednesday.
"High fuel taxes and operating costs, coupled with infrastructure constraints, remains a challenge" for the Indian aviation industry, IATA Director General and CEO Tony Tyler said here.
He was replying to a question on the problems facing the Indian aviation sector.
Tyler, however, projected a healthy outlook for the global airline industry and said IATA expected 25 percent growth in combined net profit to USD 25 billion in 2015 as against USD 19.9 in the current year on the back of falling crude prices.
"For 2015, we see airlines making a collective USD 25 billion net profit. That's up from USD 19 billion this year, USD 10.6 billion in 2013 and USD 6.1 billion in 2012," the chief of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said at the IATA Global Media Day here.
However, half of the USD 25 billion profit was expected to come from the North American carriers while the European airlines, were likely to contribute only USD 4 billion in the collective profits.
"I would like to impress upon you that while USD 25 billion may sound like a lot of money, it is distributed over a very fragmented industry with hundreds of players. Some airlines are making sustainable returns and others re struggling.
"Over half of the profits, some USD 13.2 billion, are expected to be generated by the airlines in North America. In contrast, the European industry is of similar size but will make only USD 4," Tyler said.
