IATA reports cargo growth, warns of damaging regulation

IATA reports cargo growth, warns of damaging regulation    Geneva-based International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported Monday that world cargo traffic for January increased 15.5 percent in freight ton kilometers over the same month 2004.
   For January, North America posted the lowest growth for all regions with 11.1 percent growth in freight ton kilometers. The Middle East region scored the highest growth with 25.9 percent rise in freight ton kilometers.
   IATA warned that air transport is suffering from misunderstanding and poor regulation.
   “February was highlighted by two potentially disastrous developments,” said Giovanni Bisignani, director general and chief executive officer of IATA. 'Europe implemented new rules on compensation for delays and cancelations that fail both the good law and good sense tests. These add costs and complexity to an industry that is simplifying to reduce costs to provide better value to consumers,” he added.
   “At the same time politicians are bantering proposals for new taxes on aviation that ignore the fact that aviation already entirely funds its own infrastructure. The industry is beginning to recover-in many ways despite the efforts of some of our regulators,” said Bisignani.