THE expected surge in travellers to the Asia-Pacific over the next 20 years may fail to materialise unless governments quickly address the issue of overcapacity at airports, warned aviation experts during Routes Asia 2016, which took place in Manila last week.
Currently, a majority of airports in Asia are operating at maximum or above capacity as an estimated 100 million travellers arrive in the Asia-Pacific every year.
IATA reported that strong demand for air travel continued in January this year with a 7.1 per cent increase in global passenger traffic from January 2015, due to the drop in oil prices.
In Asia-Pacific, carriers posted a 10.3 per cent increase in passenger traffic in January compared to the same period last year, pushing up their load factor by 2 percentage points to 79.2 per cent, due to more direct airport connections within Asia, mainly by LCCs.
“Unfortunately, airport development is an afterthought. We should have started building airports five years ago,” said Vinoop Goel, APAC regional director of airport, passenger, cargo and security department, IATA.
Goel said IATA is now focusing on showing the value of aviation in terms of jobs creation, productivity, GDP, and other economic measures so as to urge policy makers to begin building and expanding airports.
“Just imagine the economic impact that the Philippine economy would have gained from an airport that can handle all potential travellers. The longer the delay, the bigger the loss to the country,” he added.
Andrew Cowen, CEO, HK Express, said the share of air travel in Asia has kept on increasing due to higher than average growth numbers. Infrastructure then becomes critical in coordinating that growth, he explained.
As of now, the Philippine government has yet to decide when and where to build a new international gateway despite the longstanding overcapacity at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
