Airlines have been restructuring their assets because of decreased traffic and high cost of operations, caused by the impact of the global financial crisis and turbulent fuel costs. Managing Director of British Airlines bmi, Peter Spencer, said some legacy airlines have resorted to using smaller aircraft, carrying fewer passengers, and using some part of their fleet for charter services.

Spencer said legacy carriers over all sales have plummeted 30% and they are expected to see traffic decline further.  Passenger traffic has dropped between 10% and 15% and so airlines have cut their capacity of up to 15%.   Spencer noted the Middle East travel trade is not as affected by the global financial crisis as the western world.  He said it “is doing well as is evident from the growth in our operations, especially in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt.