Gregory Polek has spent his entire career in aviation journalism with AIN, starting as a proofreader and assistant to then-managing editor Mary Mahoney in 1995 after serving an internship with&nbsp;New Jersey Monthly&nbsp;magazine and completing his B.A. degree in English/Writing at New Jersey’s William Paterson College. By 1997 Polek accepted a position as an associate editor, covering the regional airline beat for&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;in place of retiring industry veteran Don Anderson. The assignment took Polek across North America and Europe to profile regional airlines varying in size and mission from the likes of floatplane operators Kenmore Air and Chalk’s Ocean Airways to regional jet operators such as SkyWest and American Eagle. Today, in his dual role as Air Transport Editor and International Airshow Editor, Polek writes, edits, and manages AIN’s commercial aviation content while overseeing each of the company’s daily international air show publications in Paris, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai. Most recently Polek has assumed oversight of daily coverage of the Helicopter Association International’s annual Heli-Expo convention.

Senior Editor

Gregory Polek

The earthquake in Japan and political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa interrupted the global air transport industry’s growth trend during March, as global passenger demand fell by 0.3 percent during the month, compared with February’s figures, according to data released last week by the International Air Transport Association.
IATA’s statistics showed that year-over-year growth had slowed to 3.8 percent from 5.8 percent recorded in February. However, freight markets appeared to largely escape the effects of the geopolitical turmoil, showing a rebound in March growth to 3.7 percent year-over-year, compared with 1.8 percent in February. Between the months of February and March, cargo demand expanded 4.5 percent.
According to IATA, the events in Japan resulted in a 1-percent loss in global international traffic in March. From a regional perspective, Asia-Pacific carriers saw traffic erode by more than 2 percent, North American carriers experienced a 1-percent drop and Europe’s carriers felt a 0.5-percent decline. As expected, Japan’s domestic market experienced the most severe effects, suffering a 22-percent fall in demand.
Meanwhile, the disruptions in Middle East and North Africa cut international travel by 0.9 percentage points. Egypt and Tunisia experienced traffic levels 10- to 25 percent below normal for March. Military action in Libya virtually stopped civil aviation to, from and within that country.
Capacity adjustments lagged behind the sudden drop in demand, added IATA. Against global demand growth of 3.8 percent, capacity expanded by 8.6 percent, resulting a drop in average load factor by 3.5 percentage points, to 74.6 percent.
Although IATA predicted that the events in Japan and the Middle East likely will continue to depress growth this quarter, it said strong underlying economic growth trends should support recovery in both passenger and cargo markets in the second half of 2011.
“The big uncertainty is the price of oil,” said IATA director general Giovanni Bisignani. “Even in the $120 a barrel range, it appears that strong economic growth in markets outside of Europe is continuing. We see this in the strong demand from business for premium travel, which maintained 7.7-percent growth through February. But many leisure travelers are putting off flying because of the impact of high oil prices.”

IATA: Earthquake, Political Unrest Disrupt Air Transport Recovery

The earthquake in Japan and political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa interrupted the global air transport industry’s growth trend during March,

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