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 world's airline industry posted yet another banner month in March, as demand for international passenger service grew 10.3 percent and cargo demand increased 28.1 percent over the same month a year earlier, according to statistics released today by the International Air Transport Association. Both figures represent improvements over the 9 percent and 26.3 percent respective passenger and cargo growth recorded by the industry in February.
Meanwhile, the industry posted&nbsp;a record load factor of 78 percent, as the 10.3-percent passenger traffic gain far outpaced a 2-percent capacity increase. International freight markets also continued to experience tighter supply and demand conditions, as the 28.1-percent demand improvement and a 5.3-percent capacity expansion resulted in a load factor of 57.1 percent-the highest rate since the industry posted a 5.8-percent load factor in November 2002.
"March results show that the pace&nbsp;of the upturn is strong," said IATA director general and CEO Giovanni Bisignani. "The industry has lost two years of growth, and passenger and freight markets are still 1 percent below early 2008 highs. Nonetheless, the pace of improvement, based on an improving global economic situation, is much faster than anybody would have expected even six months ago."
While Middle Eastern carriers continued their pattern of posting the strongest traffic gains, at 25.9 percent, even North America's carriers posted a marked improvement over the gains they recorded in February. In fact, North American carriers, while showing traffic growth of 7.8 percent, drew the highest load factors (81.6 percent) of all the regions evaluated due to what IATA called continued careful capacity management.

Airline Traffic Figures for March Approach 2008 Highs

The world's airline industry posted yet another banner month in March, as demand for international passenger service grew 10.3 percent and cargo demand inc

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