BEIJING, June 6 (Xinhuanet) -- The International Air Transport Association (IATA) Monday raised its forecast for global airline losses this year to 3 billion U.S. dollars from the previous 2.2 billion dollars, amid soaring fuel costs worldwide.

    "You, the airlines, paid an unacceptable bill," Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association, told airline leaders who gathered in Paris Monday for the association's two-day annual meeting.

    "Increased refinery margins put 14 billion dollars directly into oil company pockets," Bisignani said in his speech, adding: "And what did you get for it? The same old process and the same product."

    The global airline industry's fuel bill this year will top 112 billion dollars -- about 21 billion dollars more than in 2005, according to IATA.

    David Bonderman, a billionaire based in Texas, told the IATA¡¯s annual conference that losses would deepen next year because of continuing high fuel costs and a market flooded with millions of extra airline seats.

    He predicted that airlines would be cancelling orders for more than 1,000 aircraft because the industry was about to enter a downturn in its economic cycle.

    The International Air Transport Association represents 261 airlines from 136 countries. Those airlines handle 94 percent of the world's scheduled air traffic. Enditem

    (Agencies)