GENEVA: The aviation industry is set to post record net earnings this year and is expected to remain profitable in 2017, despite rising oil prices and global political turbulence, its trade association said Thursday.

“Airlines continue to deliver strong results. This year we expect a record net profit of $35.6 billion” (33bn euros), said Alexandre de Juniac, the new head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

That makes a decline from the $39.4bn forecast in June, and IATA said the global net profit was expected to slide to $29.8bn in 2017. This projection is based on an expected average price per barrel of Brent oil of $55 next year — $10 more than in 2016. “Even though conditions in 2017 will be more difficult with rising oil prices, we see ... a very soft landing and safely in profitable territory,” de Juniac said.

In fact, he said, with 2016 set to post the third consecutive year of net profits, “these three years are the best performance in the industry’s history, irrespective of the many uncertainties we face.”

He pointed out that while most businesses might expect to be profitable year after year, “three years of sustainable profits is a first for the airline industry.”

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2016