Global airline sector profit is likely to grow to $ 7.5 billion this year, with Asia Pacific and Middle East based airlines dominating the international passenger market and leading the way in terms of improved operating margins, according to IATA data.

This is compared to $ 4.6 billion worth of profit recorded in 2009, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) report said.

According to IATA, global airline sector profit will grow from $ 4.6 billion in 2009 to a forecast figure of $ 7.5 billion for 2013 with Asia Pacific and Middle East based airlines dominating the international passenger market and leading the way in terms of improved operating margins.

According to the report, Asia-Pacific will lead world traffic by 2031, with a 32 per cent share, while the Middle East will rise to 11 per cent in 2031 from the current figure of 7 per cent.

The future forecasts over the next 20 years for the world GDP growth as per IMF is at 3.2 per cent per annum (CAGR) and based on ICAO forecasts, the number of airline passengers is projected to grow at 4 per cent per annum (CAGR) with airline traffic growth outlined to grow at 5 per cent per annum (CAGR),

Domestic commercial airlines piled up loss of $1.65 billion (Rs 8,910 crore) on a revenue of $9.5 billion ( Rs 51,300 crore) during 2012-13 with more than 40 per cent of the annual loss coming from operations in the last quarter (January-March), according to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa).

The aviation think tank in its India Aviation Outlook 2013-14 report further stated that average fares increased by 15-20 per cent year-on-year in the last fiscal and aggressive discounting during the traditionally weak period between January and March resulted in loss of $700 million during the last quarter alone.

 The report also states that the debt of the aviation industry has increased eight to nine per cent in 2012-13 to $14.5 billion (Rs 78,300 crore) with additional vendor-related liabilities of around $2 billion compared with an aver-age cash position of just $500-$550 million. Air India holds just over 60 per cent of that debt,” said Capa. The accumulated loss since 2007 works out to around $9.5 billion as on March 31, 2013.