Willis: Buyers’ Market Dominates Airline Industry
London, UK, November 9, 2011 – Despite ongoing global economic challenges, the airline industry continues to project
a positive picture, with loss levels at a six-year low and insurance premiums trending on a
downward slope, according to a new report on the aviation sector from the Aerospace division of
Willis Group Holdings (NYSE:WSH), the global insurance broker.
So far, this year has seen average fleet value exposures grow by eight per cent against a
16 per cent rise in passenger numbers, said Willis’ Airline Insight newsletter, while premium levels are
down by one per cent year-on-year. The report predicts that premium levels are likely to continue
to slide, as increased exposure levels are offset by benign claims and a continued abundance in
capacity. The airline loss position through the first 10 months of the year is exemplary, with
passenger fatalities the lowest they have been at this point of the year for the last
decade.
Commenting on the report, Steve Doyle, Business Development and Sales Director for Willis Aerospace, said: “The increased
desire for return on capital is prompting the greater deployment of this capacity, resulting in heightened
market competition. The niche and catastrophe nature of aviation insurance means that it continues to offer
diversification to insurers’ overall portfolios and therefore market withdrawals are unlikely to come in response to
declining results in the airline sector of the market.”
Click here to read the full Willis Airline Insights report.
Willis Group Holdings plc is a leading global insurance broker. Through its subsidiaries, Willis develops and delivers
professional insurance, reinsurance, risk management, financial and human resource consulting and actuarial services to corporations, public
entities and institutions around the world. Willis has more than 400 offices in nearly 120 countries,
with a global team of approximately 17,000 employees serving clients in virtually every part of the
world. Additional information on Willis may be found at www.willis.com.
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