Airlines profitability is closely tied to economic growth and trade. During the first the industry suffered not only from world recession but travel was further depressed by the Gul War, in 1991 the number of international passengers dropped for the first time. The financ difficulties boom years of the late 1980s leading to significant excess capacity in the market. IATA's member airlines suffered cumulative losses of $20.4bn in the years from 1990 to 1994