RBT: IATA’s half-year traffic report showed a strong growth in passenger transport and sluggish results for cargo in the EU. What are the estimates for the 2nd half of the year, and further on in 2008?
Anca Apahidean: IATA expects passenger demand to remain relatively strong and for freight demand to improve over the next 18 months. Passenger kilometers are forecast to increase by 5.9% in 2007 and 6% in 2008. Freight growth has improved in the last three months, with growth of 6% in August more than double the 2.7% growth for the first half of the year. We forecast freight tone kilometers to grow by 4.4% in 2007 and 5.5% in 2008. The recent volatility in financial markets could potentially constrain air traffic growth over the next year. However, following intervention by central banks, there are no signs yet that uncertainty in financial markets has fed through into lower growth in the real economy.
RBT: Will the Romanian air traffic grow more than 20% year on year in 2007? Is this a sustainable rate or should one expect a slowdown next year?
A.A.: A growth rate of 20% is unlikely to be sustainable in the medium term. IATA expects that international air passenger traffic to and from Romania will grow by 9% in 2007, slower than the previous year but still among the top 10 fastest growing markets in the world. International airfreight traffic to and from Romania is also forecast to grow by a strong 5.9% in 2007.
