Performance of Chinese airlines impressive amid positive growth outlook: IATA head

GENEVA - Speaking at the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) Global Media Day on Thursday, IATA head Tony Tylor lauded the performance of Chinese airlines in recent years amid positive long-term prospects for the global airline industry.

"Now the safety record in China is as good as anywhere else in the world. The reason that they've achieved it is that they've followed the global standard. They applied globally recognized procedures. That's a tremendous achievement," Tylor noted.

Regarding the recent unveiling of the Chinese-built C919 aircraft, Tylor noted that it was good news that more airplane manufacturers from countries such as China, Russia, Brazil and Canada were entering the market.

He did warn however that it will take time before the Chinese passenger jet built by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China will be able to compete with established aircraft manufacturing giants Airbus and Boeing.

"It makes sense to me that China should start at home with Chinese airlines using their aircraft. Because they can build up experience in an environment easy to support like Airbus did in Europe," Tyler told Xinhua, while stressing the importance of building both reliable and cost-efficient planes.

"Build it well, build it efficiently. And things will start to roll," the British Director General added.

These statements come amid positive results for the global airline industry. According to IATA figures, the outlook for 2016 sees an average net profit margin of 5.1 percent being generated with total net profits of $36.3 billion.

Combined with lower oil prices, these trends are also a result of higher passenger travel demand, stronger economic performance in some key economies and efficiency gains made by airlines.

Predictions show that profits for the Asia-Pacific region are expected to grow from $5.8 billion in 2015 to $6.6 billion in 2016, while indications show that though the Chinese economy has slowed down, air travel remains in high demand.

"They (The Chinese) manage to combine the enormous growth with huge improvement in safety. Sometimes you think growing fast has to compromise with safety. China proves this is not true. You can have huge growth and good safety at the same time. All of this has never been done anywhere else," he concluded.