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.