Air China's - Orient Aviation

Overall, Tatcher sees growth driven bythe obvious increases in affluence, but morethrough tourist traffic than anything else.Except in China.“That market is very much driven byeconomic reasons, as opposed to tourism,”he said, listing developments in Shenzhen,Chengdu and Kunming as examples ofairport expansion in major secondarycities.Then comes the next wave at the majorhubs through increases in capacity atShanghai Pudong and Beijing Capitalairports and a possible doubling of capacityat Guangzhou’s New Baiyun airport throughthe building of its next module.Tatcher, however, adds a word of cautionto temper the excitement about more growth.“There are a lot of substandard facilities, eventhe new ones that are being built,” he said.“Unfortunately, especially in China, there’sstill a lot of corner cutting by the authoritiesor the developers.“These things will further compromisethe efficiency and the capacity of thoseairports.”By Charles AndersonMajor hub airports inEurope are vying fora slice of the pie asAsia-Pacific trafficcontinues to grow,with three of the continent’s top hubsreporting significant increases in businessattached to the region.The figures show the importance ofAsia-Pacific custom. The region accountedfor 12% of Frankfurt International Airport’s52.2 million passengers in 2005 and awhopping 45% of its 1.9 million tonnes offreight. Currently, 24 scheduled passengerairlines fly 257 departures from there to31 destinations in 18 countries within theregion.At the other German giant, Munich,flights to and from Asia posted the largestincreases in the long-haul segment in 2005.They grew by more than 20%, compared to13% for all long-haul flights.More detailed figures on the Asia-Pacific’s contribution are not available, butthe Star Alliance-Lufthansa hub reported a35% growth in connecting passengers, manyof whom came from the region.Amsterdam Schiphol, meanwhile, sawAsia-Pacific passenger traffic rise by 12%Major new and recent airport projectsin the Asia-Pacific (over US$500 million)Airport/Terminal Investment(US$) Project/Opening DateTokyo, third airport $35 billion Planned land reclamation, Tokyo BayOsaka, Kansai $14.6 billion Second runway, terminal, by 2007Tokyo, Haneda $8.1 billion Fourth runway, terminal extensions, by 2009Long Thanh, Vietnam $8 billion International airport to open by 2011Suvarnabhumi, Bangkok $5.6 billion To open this yearShanghai, Pudong $4.8 billion Phase two of airport workIncheon, Seoul $4.56 billion Phase two, new runway, concourse,cargo terminal, by 2008Shenzhen $3.62 billion Second runway, third terminalMumbai (Bombay) $3.6 billion New airport, after 2010Clark, Philippines $3 billion Air base conversion project, to 2010Kobe $2.9 billion Offshore airport, opened in FebruaryManila $2.5 billion Terminal, airfield work, much delayedBeijing Capital $2.01 billion New pass. terminal, third runway, by 2008Kunming $1.9 billion New airportSydney $1.67 billion Ongoing investments to 2024Brisbane $1.1 billion Doubling terminal capacity, new runwayVientiane, Laos $1 billion New airport plannedSingapore, Changi $1 billion New terminal three(Compiled by Momberger Airport Information, reprinted from ACI Economics Survey)European airportscashing in fromAsia’s travel boomlast year to 3.1 million, making up 7% of thetotal. Freight, at 574,000 tonnes, contributed40% of its 1.4 million tonnes. Nine passengerairlines serve 14 Asia-Pacific destinations.Roland Weil, assistant vice-president,sales, at Frankfurt spelt out why the airportis continuing to focus on business from theregion. “European and Asia-Pacific carriersserving the Asia-Pacific are extremelyimportant for our Frankfurt global hub.First and foremost it is a hub for continentaland inter-continental traffic, with the Asia-Pacific being one of our largest markets forpassenger and cargo growth,” he said.The arrival of the A380, an aircraft aimedat the region, is also of importance. “We havestrategically positioned Frankfurt to be a keysuperjumbo hub. Many Asian carriers haveordered the A380 and we hope to have themall serving Frankfurt on the Asia-Europeroute,” said Weil. Lufthansa Technik isbuilding its A380 maintenance base there,primarily to maintain its own fleet, but alsoto serve third-party customers.With a 3.4 billion euro (US$2.81 billion)expansion plan in the works which willincrease runway capacity by 50% andpassenger capacity to 82 million, Weilsees the central German hub as a better betfor carriers than the fast-growing MiddleEastern airports.“Although the Gulf states want to serveas the middle man between Asia and Europe,the 21st century is the ‘fast century’ andtravel distances and times give Frankfurt thedefinite advantage. High kerosene prices alsomean airlines are attracted by the shortestpath to Europe,” he said.MAY 2006 ORIENT AVIATION 53