Mar. 24--BIGGER LOSSES PREDICTED FOR AIRLINE INDUSTRY: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) today issued a revised forecast that nearly doubles its previous estimate for the amount of losses that the global airline industry will suffer this year.

IATA now predicts that losses for the industry in 2009 will tally $4.7bn, compared to its previous estimate released in December of $2.5bn in losses for this year. The report said the revised figure reflects the rapid deterioration of the global economic conditions.

'The state of the airline industry today is grim,' said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's Director General and CEO. 'Demand has deteriorated much more rapidly with the economic slowdown than could have been anticipated even a few months ago. Our loss forecast for 2009 is now US$4.7 billion. Combined with an industry debt of US$170 billion, the pressure on the industry balance sheet is extreme.'

The report says the Middle East will be the only region with demand growth in 2009 (+1.2 percent). But this will be overshadowed by the impact of a 3.8 percent increase in capacity.

While this is significantly below the double-digit growth of previous years, the region continues to add capacity ahead of demand.

The result is expected to be a loss of $900m (a slight deterioration from the $800m loss recorded in 2008).

QANTAS PLANS 100 SENIOR JOBS CUT: Australian airline Qantas said it will slash 100 senior jobs as a result of the global economic crisis and the slowdown in the global air travel. The job losses, which will be announced in the coming weeks ,came after Qantas previously announced plans to cut 1,500 positions.

AIR ARABIA TO DISTRIBUTE 10 PERCENT CASH DIVIDEND: The Board of Directors of Air Arabia decided during a general assembly meeting to distribute a 10 percent cash dividend of the company's share capital. The meeting has also approved the company's audit for the financial year ending December 2008.

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