Is the frequency of links with the United States this summer suffer from Donald Trump’s policies? The question is on everyone’s lips at the Annual Airlines meeting, which remain attentive but are destined to be reassuring at the moment.
“In summary, the answer is no, and it is not that we do not wait for it, we examine the situation every day,” said the general director of the South American Air Group (Avianca and Gol), Adrian Neuhauser on Monday, before the delegates of the International Association of Air Transport (IATA) in New Delhi.
“What we fear most was an important change in the nature of demand” on the axis of the North Atlantic, the director of the Air France-KLM AFP, Benjamin Smith, told AFP, “but we don’t see what happens.” For Air France and KLM, companies higher than their competitors, “Premium traffic remains as expected. Demand falls a bit on leisure trips and filled the planes by granting price reductions, so profitability is not as high as expected,” Nined Benjamin Smith.
Commercial War
Since his return to power in January, Donald Trump has given the sign of a fight against illegal immigration, pointing in particular to Latin Americans, triggered commercial wars in early April after having mentioned the annexation of Canada, and recently attacked the visas of foreign students, especially Chinese. At the end of March, several European countries asked that their citizens go to the United States to redouble their vigilance with respect to their travel documents, after the coverage of the media incidents at the entrance points.
According to a study by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) that brings together the main world tourism operators, the US tourism sector could lose $ 12.5 billion in expenses in international visitors this year. IATA general director Willie Walsh, who brings together 350 airlines that capture 80% of world air traffic, has said that until now, “traffic between Europe and North America (…) is increasing compared to the same period last year.”
However, IATA has also noticed “an increase in the capacity of Latin America” for the end of the year, by European companies to the detriment of the North American Service, according to the vice president of the Organization for the Americas, Peter Cerda. “More than feared,” the Trump effect is real “in the links between Europe and the United States, has assured AFP Didier Bréchemier, main partner of Roland Berger. “Today, reserves are lower than were on the same date, last year,” he added, also evoking a dollar that is still very high and can discourage Europeans.
+9% in Asia-Pacific
IATA reviewed its traffic and profitability projections for 2025 on Monday on Monday due to the slowdown in the activity and economic uncertainties, which partially assigned to the duties of Donald Trump’s customs. North America, among the main world regions, is the one that will experience the least growth in its air traffic this year, according to IATA: 0.4%, against 6% for Europe and 9% in Asia-Pacific.
The North American air sector “should be affected by a slowdown in the economy of the United States, and it is likely that the increase in customs tasks will erosion both consumers and companies, reducing consumption and investment,” Ita warned. “We are seeing weakness in the domestic market, and I think that most of the owners of the US airlines would confirm it,” said Jetblue’s manager.
Since February, the North American Air Transport Market has begun to give deceleration signs. Several companies established in the United States have warned that they would not achieve their financial objectives, but affirmed that international links were not affected.
Source: BFM TV
