Asian Airlines seek common voice to meet new challenges

Asian Airlines seek common voice to meet new challenges

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Regional aviation leaders declared Monday that while many airlines have soared out of Asia's financial crisis, closer solidarity was now needed to weather new hurdles which challenge the industry.

"The airline industry in Asia has been through some difficult times recently, but we now see renewed growth, more stable currencies and opportunities to return to markets temporarily given up at the height of the crisis," said Abdulgani, president of Indonesia's state-owned Garuda flagship carrier.

Abdulgani, who like many Indonesians use only one name, warned however that these positive developments had brought "new obstacles and new regulations, charges or taxes" to the industry. He did not give details of the problems.

"For that reason, airlines will always need a common voice, a spokesman and lobbyist to articulate our common concerns," he said during the inauguration of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines' new home base in Kuala Lumpur.

The AAPA, which represents 18 carriers in the Asia-Pacific region, is the predominant trade association, which mediates with governments, aircraft manufacturers and airport authorities.

Many Asian airlines dramatically reduced their capacity after the 1997 economic crisis and transferred their aircraft to markets serving North America and Europe.

But experts now predict that the Asia-Pacific will witness the highest airline passenger traffic growth rates in the world by 2016, with a likely expansion of 7.7 percent annually.

The region will need more than 5,000 new passenger aircraft over the next 20 years, estimates Rolls-Royce, the global leader in large engines. These aircraft will range from 100-seat jets to those carrying more than 400 people.

On Monday, the AAPA's director general, Richard Stirland, said that the association would help member airlines grapple with new and old challenges which face the industry, including e-commerce, government-imposed fees and consumer protection.

"We have laid the foundation for an organization which will truly reflect the strength, innovation and dynamism of the Asian carriers," he said.

The AAPA, which operated from Manila for the last 30 years, moved its offices to capitalize on "a constant flow of aviation- related activity" in Kuala Lumpur, Stirland said.