Monday's economic good news data point came from the airline industry: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) now expects the industry to post a $2.5 billion profit in 2010.

In March, the IATA had forecast that the industry would lose $2.8 billion in 2010.

"The global economy is recovering from the depths of the financial crisis much more quickly than could have been anticipated," Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's Director General and CEO said Monday, in a statement. "Airlines are benefiting from a strong traffic rebound that is pushing the industry into the black. We thought that it would take at least three years to recover the $81 billion 14.3% drop in revenues in 2009. But the $62 billion top line improvement this year puts us about 75% on the way to pre-crisis levels."

Need another sign that the global economic recovery is gaining momentum?

Here's one: global airlines continue to recover, with emerging markets in Asia and Latin America (not surprisingly) leading the way.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) Thursday lowered its 2010 airline loss estimate to $2.8 billion from the previously released $5.6 billion loss. The IATA also lowered its 2009 loss estimate to $9.4 billion from the previously-released $11 billion, due to the year-end momentum in travel.

Business travelers still aren't coming back to the good seats, despite airlines' best efforts. FareCompare.com reports that many business class tickets to Europe are going to be 33% to 66% cheaper this fall relative to last year. Companies are being careful with their cash – which means stacking people in coach rather than giving them a little leg room on overseas flights. With back-of-the-plane tickets going for a quarter of the price (or less) than their business class equivalents, this isn't exactly shocking.

On Wednesday, Delta's (NYSE: DAL) cheapest NYC-to-London's cheapest roundtrip coach fare was $716 (for an October 23 departure and October 30 return), according to a report in USA Today. To take the same trip in business class, you were looking at a hefty $4,634. So, even though prices are down year-over-year, it doesn't mean that business travelers are being allowed to enjoy the opportunity.

Higher fuel prices and slipping demand for air travel have prompted a change. The International Air Transport Association revised its forecast of global airline losses for the year from $9 billion to $11 billion. Revenues for the air travel industry are expected to fall 15% to $455 billion worldwide. Passenger traffic is anticipated to fall by 4%, with cargo dropping 14% for the year.

Financially, IATA CEO Giovanni Bisignani says the impact of the financial crisis has been more severe than the terror attacks of eight years ago.

According to the Associated Press, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) believes that world airlines will lose $4.7 billion this year. A loss of this size is more than world airlines saw following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The industry group attributes the losses to "the rapid deterioration of the global economic conditions."

This revision basically doubles the earlier forecast from December, causing the CEO of the IATA, Giovanni Bisignani, to note that "The state of the airline industry today is grim ... Demand has deteriorated much more rapidly with the economic slowdown than could have been anticipated even a few months ago." The IATA predicts revenues will drop by $62 billion to $467 billion, a 12% decline.

Airlines globally could lose $6.1 billion in 2008, on soaring oil prices and financial market dislocation, the head of the International Air Transport Association said, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday (subscription required).

Giovanni Bisignani, managing director of the IATA, which represents 230 airlines, called the sector "a fragile industry in a crisis" and that it's "bracing for more situations of airlines collapsing," due to high fuel prices and lower revenue, The Journal reported. Further, the air travel slowdown, once thought to be contained to developed nations, has spread to global air travel's plum: Asia, he added.

Airline slowdown could hurt Boeing, Airbus

Stock analyst and frequent flier C. Leonard Bauer told BloggingStocks Thursday if the Asian hemisphere is slowing, to go along with sluggish revenue statistics in Europe and the United States, the slowdown "would have wide implications, not just for airlines, but for airplane manufacturers Boeing and Airbus."

"Further consolidation globally, was a given, particularly in nations like India, which had too many airlines even before the global economy slowed, but the concern now is that national carriers will postpone or cancel plane orders," Bauer said. "From a U.S. perspective, that could mean bad news for Boeing. And what's bad news for Boeing is bad news for the U.S economy. Airplane sales have been one of the U.S. economy's few bright spots." [Bauer added that he does not own shares in or have a rating on any airline or airplane manufacturer. However, Bauer does have frequent flier miles/points in American Airlines (NYSE: AMR).]