US sees recovery ahead for passenger airlines

Airline passenger traffic will recover from this year's poor showing and show moderate growth into the 1990s, the Federal Aviation Administration said in its annual aviation forecast. As a result, more funds will be needed to expand the national air space system and to pay for new facilities and equipment. The report noted that sharply rising fuel prices and a sluggish economy is fiscal 1980 held the industry at almost the same level as fiscal 1979. But air carrier passenger traffic is expected to improve in 1981, with a 21 percent increase between 1980 and 1992. The burgeoning commuter industry, which recorded a 14 percent gain in passenger traffic in fiscal 1980 despite the recession, will grow at an even faster rate than the big airlines.