ASEAN needs to boost air capacity – IATA
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Limited capacity at Southeast Asian airports could hinder the region’s growth potential, IATA has warned.
Speaking at the inaugural EU-ASEAN Aviation Summit in Singapore this week, IATA’s director-general & CEO, Tony Tyler, said that certain countries in the ASEAN region need to enhance their aviation infrastructure if they are to take full advantage of the region’s projected growth.
“Asia is well known for its world-leading airport infrastructure in some markets — Singapore among them,” Tyler said.
“But the Philippines and Indonesia are far behind. And even the capacity constraints in markets that need to be connected to ASEAN could impact growth. I have already mentioned the problems in Europe. And the shortfalls in key Indian markets such as Mumbai could negatively impact connectivity as well.”
Tyler also told ASEAN that failure to expand airport capacity could hinder the implementation of a regional ‘open skies’ policy. Citing the example of Europe, where the Single European Sky system has been delayed for decades, Tyler warned ASEAN against “complacency”.
“There are discussions around a ‘Seamless Asian Sky’ that will help deliver efficiencies in the current framework. But if with the growth that the region is expecting, the discussion will need to move fairly quickly beyond the current scope in order to handle projected growth,” Tyler said.
Also in relation to the open skies policy, Tyler urged ASEAN governments to recognise the role such initiatives have in terms of enhancing regional unity.
“Europe’s Single Aviation Market delivers tremendous value to European integration. And the ASEAN liberalisation plans have similar potential. That potential will only be realised if states implement what they have committed to do,” Tyler said.
“I don’t believe that there is any appetite amongst governments for a big-bang shift to global liberalisation. But initiatives such as the one being pursued in ASEAN are the building blocks for the industry’s future shape and form. And we support this fully in this effort,” he added.
The IATA chief added that he is “optimistic” for the future growth of ASEAN aviation, but said it needs to be supported by a “long-term policy vision backed-up by concrete action”.
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