Airline industry says high-cost Thailand losing out in regional battle
Airline industry says high-cost Thailand losing out in regional battle
Paul Peachey, Agence France-Presse, Bangkok
Thailand is losing out to its rivals in the highly-competitive
battle to become Asia's air hub with high costs prompting
airlines to look for cheaper alternatives, the industry claimed
on Monday.
Regional rivals Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong have
aggressive expansion plans but Bangkok's flawed and delayed
US$3.7 billion new airport has "next to zero" chance of opening
as scheduled next year, according to the International Air
Transport Association (IATA).
The industry claimed 13 airlines had stopped flights out of
Bangkok over the last four years because of costs it said were
significantly higher than key airport competitors in Kuala Lumpur
and Singapore.
Despite low-cost airlines from across Asia moving into the
gap, officials said Thailand's ambitious target of doubling
tourist numbers to 20 million by 2008 were jeopardised by cash-
strapped airlines cutting services on cost grounds.
"The traffic will drift," said Jeff Poole, an expert in
airline charges at IATA, which represents 98 percent of the
airline industry. "Nobody's saying there won't be growth in
Thailand but it could be much more."
The travel industry has identified the Asia-Pacific region as
one of the key growth zones of international tourism with fierce
competition for European and U.S. consumers.
The industry said airport authorities in Kuala Lumpur, Hong
Kong and Singapore were gearing up for the challenge while the
Thai government planned major rises in landing charges.
"All these three airports have master plans," said David
Inglis, an IATA airport expert. "They know where they are going
to be in 10, 15, 20 years."
In contrast, he said Thailand's new Suvarnabhumi Airport
project, scheduled for opening in September 2005 to handle up to
45 million passengers a year, was flawed and destined to be
delayed.
Building had hardly started for the air traffic control tower
and there was too little space for the highly lucrative retail
sector at the airport, he said.
"The chances of opening on September 29, 2005 ... are next to
zero," Inglis told reporters, adding he expected a 12 to 18 month
delay.
Thailand's political leaders have expressed fears over delays
to the airport -- in the pipeline for 40 years -- but which has
been plagued by allegations of cronyism and mismanagement.
"The more we delay the more we lose our chance of being the
region's aviation hub," Premier Thaksin Shinawatra said last
month.
The IATA said that Thailand currently handled 30-36 million
passengers, comparable to the numbers passing through Hong Kong
and Singapore.
But while the budget airline market was surging, operators
warned that Thailand was likely to lose its grip on the long-haul
market.
"If it's okay with the government to lose the European and
American markets then that's what's happening," said Warren
Gerig, of the board of airline representatives association.
Nobody was available at Thailand's ministry of transport to
comment on IATA's complaints.