Airlines expect to make $10 billion this year despite economic slowdown
Global airlines should make nearly $10 billion in profit this year as business bounces back from the pandemic, according to a new forecast from the InternationalAirTransportAssociation(IATA).
IATA on Monday more than doubled its 2023 profit forecast for the global airline industry despite a looming economic downturn. Airlines are expected to make $9.8 billion in net profit in 2023, up from a Decemberforecastof$4.7billion.
Stronger profitability was supported by cargo revenues, China’s reopening and lower jet fuel prices, IATA’s director general Willie Walsh said in a statement.
Theindustry’smainlobbygroupexpects4.35billion people to travel by air this year, not far off the 4.54 billionpassengerswhoflewin2019.
The figures mark a significant turnaround for the airline industry, which carried just 1.8 billion passengers in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, at a loss of $76 per traveler. All told, the aviation industry suffered net losses of $183 billion between2020and2022aslockdownshittravel.
Souce:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/05/business/iata-airlines-profits-postpandemic/index.html
'Great migration' continues as more Americans flee to Florida and Texas
A growing number of Americans are migrating from states with steep taxes like California and New York to states with lower taxes like Florida andTexas,accordingtoaBankofAmericaanalyst notethatisbasedonaggregatedandanonymous internalcustomerdata.
Amongthetop23majormetropolitanareasinthe country, Austin, Texas, saw the biggest influx of people during the first two years of the pandemic – as well as over the past four quarters. The net population of the Texas capital jumped by more than 1.5% at the beginning of 2023, compared to thesametimeoneyearago.
Inthetwo-yearperiodfrom2020to2022, Austin's populationgrewby5%.
Tampa, Florida, meanwhile, saw its population growbyalittlelessthan1%in2023,comparedwith a more than 2% increase the previous two years. Orlando, Florida, also notched a spot in the top threewithsimilargrowthratestoTampa.
US trade deficit widens to 6-month high, expected to dent economic growth
The U.S. trade deficit widened by the most in eight years in April as imports of goods rebounded while exports of energy products declined, a trend that if sustained, could result in trade being a drag on economicgrowthinthesecondquarter.
The increase reported by the Commerce Department on Wednesday was the biggest since April 2015 and pushed the trade gap to the highest levelinsix months. It ledeconomists to expect that trade could chop off as much as 2.5 percentage points from gross domestic product this quarter, unless imports reversed course, a tall order given the persistent strength in domestic demand. A strong dollar and slowing global demand could curbexports.
Thetradedeficitjumped23.0%to$74.6billion.Data for March was revised to show the trade gap narrowing to $60.6 billion instead of the previously reported$64.2billion.
Adjusted for inflation, the goods trade deficit shot up 16.5% to $95.8 billion in April. Goldman Sachs lowered its second-quarter GDP growth tracking estimatebyhalfapercentagepointtoa1.7%rate.
Souce:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-trade-deficit-widens-sharply-124032276.html
US solar power installations soar as panel imports ease
U.S. solar energy installations soared 47%, according to an industry report published on Thursday.
Theeasingofpanelsuppliesallowedmanystalled big projects to be completed and connected to thegrid.
The report was issued by research firm Wood Mackenzie and the Solar Energy Industries Association(SEIA)tradegroup.
The rise in installations increased capacity to power more than 1 million homes. Florida had morenewinstallationsthananyotherstate.
Largeprojectsforutilitiesandotherbigcustomers led installations with a 66% increase from a year earlier.
The growth is a substantial turnaround for the industry, which has been struggling with tight supplies of imported panels stemming from implementation of a law meant to weed out productsmadewithforcedlabor.
Residential solar also had a banner quarter, soaring30%.
As Canada burns, smoke makes US air unhealthy and skies eerie
Canada is on fire. On Wednesday there were more than 400 wildfires burning across the country, more than half of them out-of-control. Smoke and unhealthy air quality levels from the conflagration have blanketed multiple Canadian provinces, much of the Great Lakes region and parts of the northeastern UnitedStates.
Airquality levels in multipleU.S. citieshadhit extremely hazardouslevels,accordingto the federalAirNow fire and smoke map. Marked with maroon-colored dots, these are places where the air was so bad it was considereda"healthwarningemergencyconditions:everyoneismorelikelytobeaffected."
Between 0 and 50 is considered a healthy level. On Wednesday, Syracuse, New York; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; and others were showing levels over 340. Pinnacle State Park near Addison, New York, has reachedaremarkablybadairqualityindexof460.Thesystemtopsoutat500.
Duetothesmokeintheair,"childrenandolderadults,aswellaspeoplewithheartorlungdisease,should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion," the weather service in Albany, New York, warned. "Exposure to elevatedlevelsoffineparticlessuchaswoodsmokecanincreasethelikelihoodofrespiratorysymptomsin sensitiveindividualsandaggravateheartorlungdisease."
Souce:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/06/07/see-wildfire-smoke-map-of-us-canada/70293572007/
