The post above from someone who says I give the goldbugs too much stick.
Maybe you should check this thread out and see how much stick I've taken.
Anyway the airline industry is looking good, yields and load factors are up and some good press for the airlines recently in the USA.
From the WSJ.
LONDON—International air-passenger traffic soared 12% in May on a year-to-year basis, rebounding strongly from the chaos in April when clouds of volcanic ash caused massive disruption in Europe.
Strong traffic growth is contributing to a strengthening industry bottom line, according to the International Air Transport Association, which represents some 230 airlines world-wide comprising 93% of scheduled international air traffic.
Airlines are expected to post a $2.5 billion profit in 2010, a dramatic turnaround from the $9.9 billion lost in 2009.
"This is good news, but it is only a 0.5% margin," said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's director general. "We are still a long way from sustainable profitability."
He cautioned that in the short term, airlines needed to focus on nurturing the recovery by continuing to match capacity to demand and controlling costs.
Mr. Bisignani criticized some government policy initiatives, including a departure tax in Germany, and the U.K. government for talking about a future without domestic aviation and no capacity growth.
"The traveling public and Europe's struggling economy deserves much better than this short-sighted policy myopia," he said.
Growth in international passenger traffic last month was weakest for European airlines, which posted 8.3% growth year-to-year. IATA expects the region to continue to show weaker growth in demand than other parts of the world due to tepid economic conditions, questions over financial stability and tightening fiscal policies.
Europe was hit hard in April by eruptions at a volcano in Iceland which produced clouds of volcanic ash that drifted across much of the continent. Air-traffic controllers considered the clouds a danger to commercial airlines and closed down affected airspace for days. The airline industry was left to foot the bill for the havoc, which is estimated at $2 billion.
Airlines in North America reported 11% growth in passenger traffic in May. Their ability to match capacity to demand meant that load factor, the percentage of seats filled with paying passengers, was 82%, the highest among the regions and above the average of about 79%.
Robust economic growth in China continues to drive expansion in the Asia-Pacific region, where growth in May was 13%. Latin America boasted the strongest growth in May at 24%, followed by the Middle East at 18%, down from rates of more than 20% earlier in the year. Growth in Africa was 17%, but load factor there was weakest at 67%.
Air freight surged 34% in May, up from 26% in April, as demand for air cargo continued to soar. Cargo jumped 39% in the Asia-Pacific region, which accounts for 45% in the market for air freight.