Airport body scanner market to boom in Asia

The market for airport full-body scanners is expected to surge in the Asia Pacific region over the coming years, according to a new report.

Photo by Dikiiy/Shutterstock.com

The ‘Commercial Airport Full Body Scanners Market’ study, conducted by research company MarketsandMarkets, found that the value of the Asia Pacific market for such security devices is expected to grow more than 1,500% over the next five years, from US$14.4 million in 2012 to US$243.1m in 2017. This works out to an approximate 75% annual growth rate for the airport body scanner market.

The fast-growing economies and tourism sectors of countries in Asia, plus and the emergence of low-cost carriers, makes it a “fertile ground” for the body scanner market, according to the report. These factors, coupled with the fact that few Asian countries have already implemented full-body scanners, offer an opportunity for the manufacturers of airport security technology, it added.

“The presence of terror groups and drug smuggling adds to the need of implementation of full-body scanners. Many countries have had trials from various manufacturers and the highlighting factor is that not a single manufacturer has got a strong foothold of this market,” the report stated.

Based on projections of Asian airport passenger traffic climbing 34% over the next five years, to almost 1.5bn passengers per year by 2017, Asia Pacific’s airports are expected to need 1,420 new full-body scanners by 2017, or just over 236 new units per year. Of this total, 60% will be required by ‘class A’ airports – those handling more than 30m passengers per year.

By Mark Elliott, 7 November 2012, Wednesday 1:04 AM