The world airline industry could face another tough year in 2010, with losses expected to hit $5.6 billion in spite of some recovery in passenger and cargo volume.

Low yields and rising costs are an ongoing disaster for global airlines, who have already lost $49 billion since 2000, according to the International Air Transport Association.  The industry group retained its estimate of $11 billion full year losses for this year.

Chief executive for IATA, Giovanni Bisignani said some key statistics were moving in the right direction, and demand would likely continue and improve and airlines are expected to drive down non-fuel unit costs.

He conceded that airlines would remain firmly in the red for 2010.

The organisation attributed most of the pressure on the extraordinary low yields airlines are currently generating, the average price a passenger pays per mile.  These would barely improve next year due to a glut of planes on the market and lower corporate travel budgets.

The group, which represents about 240 world airlines, has been forced to lower its forecasts as the intensity and longevity of the economic crisis became clearer.  It had previously forecasted a loss of $3.8 billion for 2010, and only 12 months ago predicted that deep cost cuts by US carriers would limit industry losses to $2.5 billion for this year.

IATA chief economist Brian Pearce pointed out that 2009 very quickly got much worse than expected.

Passenger volume dipped by 4.1 per cent, from the already-low levels reached in 2008 when financial markets collapsed, and premium fares dropped the most.  Cargo traffic also took a beating, with a drop of 13 per cent.

IATA said it predicts passenger traffic to rebound in 2010 by 4.5 per cent, with nearly 2.3 billion travelling.