Airline industry expected to make $10 billion in 2023

COLUMBIA, S.C. (CNN)– The airline industry is bouncing back from the pandemic.

The International Air Transport Association expects global airlines to make nearly $10 billion in profit this year.

That’s more than double what the industry’s main lobby group forecasted in December.

The revised number takes into account cargo revenues, China’s reopening to tourists, and lower jet fuel prices.

In total, the group says nearly 4.5 billion people will travel by air this year.

That’s slightly less than the number of passengers who flew in 2019, before the pandemic.