Airlines to post record $40 bil profit in 2016: IATA

I read it somewhere that anytime of the day there are half a million planes are in the air. But a meager profit of 40 billion dollars?

Majority of the planes up there are cargo planes and not passenger ones.

Rana Sodhi,

There are probably 10~12,000 planes in the air in the world during daytime over the US (the US accounts for about 6,000 planes in the air). There are probably something like 500,000 to 2 million people in the air at any given time, however. Flightradar gives you the visuals.

Will this mean the surcharges for extra bags, fuel, screaming kids, and over-crowding be eliminated? One seriously doubts it.

https://www.flightradar24.com

The majority of planes are not cargo planes. There are about 3,000 cargo planes and 17,000 passenger planes worldwide.

I read it somewhere that anytime of the day there are half a million planes are in the air. But a meager profit of 40 billion dollars?

I'd have serious doubts about where you read that. The question "How many aircraft including helicopters are there in the world?" was asked back in 2005. (source: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/584144.html)Back then the answer was:

312,000 Active General Aviation (Private) Aircraft 17,770 Passenger Aircraft 89,129 Military Aircraft 26,500 Civil Helicopters 29,700 Military Helicopters.