With a shortfall in low-emission sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) threatening the ability of airlines to reach carbon-reduction targets, Mr Walsh said that governments should take steps to increase SAF output instead of seeking to stop people flying.
Mr Walsh, who was speaking at Iata’s annual meeting in Dubai, said that the expansion of flights “will unlock huge economic value” in places like India.
He identified Amsterdam Schiphol as suffering as the Dutch government actively seeks to reduce flight slots and Brussels as bracing for state-inspired changes to how it operates. Dublin also faces a passenger cap.
Mr Walsh said: “The Irish economy will suffer as a result. The growth will just go somewhere else. Ryanair will move aircraft and Aer Lingus will not expand their transatlantic operations. People will still be flying, they’ll just be bypassing Dublin.”
Sir Tim Clark, president of Emirates, which provides global connectivity for dozens of cities across Asia, Africa and South America via its hub in Dubai, said it would be wrong to deny the developing world “those levels of connectivity that we have enjoyed for so long”.
Sir Tim told the Iata meeting that the aviation industry is “single-mindedly focused on decarbonising” but desperately needs help in doing so, since it is entirely dependent on external players to provide it with the tools to reach a target of net zero emissions by 2050.
Yvonne Manzi Makolo, who heads African carrier RwandAir, said that given the continent’s poor roads and lack of railways, “air connectivity is the only way to go. Saying we should slow down growth really doesn’t make sense”.
Iata cut its projection for production of SAF – which airlines are counting on to deliver 65pc of CO2 reductions – to 51 million tons by 2030, from a previous forecast of 69 million by 2028.
The airline industry stands to make a profit of $30.5bn (£24bn) this year, higher than in 2023 and better than the $27.4bn estimated in December, according to new estimates. That is still below the pre-pandemic level, even though a record number of passengers are forecast.
Mr Walsh said the figure is equivalent to $6.14 per passenger, or the price of a cup of coffee. He compared the industry’s 3.1pc margin to 11.5pc at Starbucks, and said the industry doesn’t have the resources to decarbonise without government help.
He said. “We’re just asking them to do what they did for wind and solar power. I’m sorry to say but the transition to net zero will require customers to pay. The costs can’t be borne by the industry given the wafer thin margins we have.”