Remarks of Tony Tyler (IATA) at the Wings of Change Conference, Santiago

27.11.2023 - 09:50 / traveldailynews.com / Theodore Koumelis

Aviation has come a very long way since the very first commercial flight 100 years ago to deliver the finest transportation system the world has ever known. For most of that time, international aviation has been guided by the principles of global standards and working together. It is long past time for all Latin American governments to adopt policies that are well-suited to aviation so that aviation can deliver the documented benefits of connectivity to the region.

Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Air Force General Jorge Rojas; International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Secretary General Raymond Benjamin; Civil Aviation Director General, Air Brigade General Rolando Mercado Zamora; CAA Directors in Latin America and the Caribbean, FIDAE Executive Director, Aviation Colonel Jose Ignacio Nogueira; ladies and gentlemen, good morning. It is a pleasure to be returning to Wings of Change. When I first participated in this event in 2012, I was still relatively new to my position. Returning two years later, it is impressive to witness the energy and activity level in one of commercial aviation’s fastest-growing regions.

This year we are celebrating the centennial of the first scheduled commercial airline flight, which took place between St. Petersburg and Tampa, Florida on 1 January 1914. From those small beginnings, commercial aviation evolved into the global air transport system that will safely connect some 3.3 billion travelers and 52 million tonnes of air cargo this year. This activity drives economic growth, creates jobs and facilitates business opportunities. By value over a third of goods traded internationally are delivered by air and some 57 million people owe their livelihoods to aviation. In the Latin American/Caribbean region -which I will refer to simply as Latin America- aviation supports more than 4.6 million jobs and $107 billion in GDP according to the most recent figures.

It is particularly gratifying that commercial aviation is expected to be profitable in our centennial year, which is certainly not something we can take for granted -at the industry level we have made a profit in only six years since the end of 2000. But things are looking up for 2014. Our current forecast is for industry earnings of $18.7 billion- an improvement on the previous two years. And it is the same trend for airlines in this region. We expect them to contribute about $1 billion to the industry’s profitability which is more than double the $400 million that they earned last year.

While this is a positive trend, profit margins -the real measure of business success- are still razor thin. An $18.7 billion profit for an industry that generates $745 billion in revenues equals an average net profit margin of