19th August 2012

Willis overviews airline insurance market

Willis has published its latest Airline insurance market overview - Airline Insight.
Key observations include:
-Overall (hull and liability) premium volume has decreased 5.1% since January, continuing the current downward market trend. At the same time, hull and liability exposures have continued to increase by single digit percentages
-Buoyant capacity and excellent loss experience means that overall market conditions are stable and the balance of power very much favours buyers
-Overall, the loss experience of 2012 was exemplary with just $141m of hull losses and no major liability losses reported
-It is now three years since the last major catastrophe, which was the Air France loss in June 2009 (which only made a short blip in the downward trend of the market)
-It will take a number of significant losses to have any major impact on market direction.
Steven Doyle, Sales and Business Development director at Willis Aerospace, comments "The recent level of stability in the market is unprecedented in comparison with the historical cyclical nature of the aviation sector and therefore without a change in market capacity levels or a run of major losses we look set for a continued reduction in premium volumes until the end of the year and into 2013."