Asian airports may not cope with air traffic

Asian airports may not cope with air traffic

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): International aviation experts warned yesterday that already congested airports in Asia may not be able to cope with increasing air traffic, which is forecast to more than triple by 2010.

"(The region) will need massive infrastructure improvements if it is to cope with the nearly 400 million passengers expected by 2010," said John Meredith, executive director of the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG).

ATAG is a working committee within the Geneva-based International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Many Asian airports were already bursting at their seams last year when about 122 million passengers passed through them, Meredith told participants at the start of a two-day IATA conference on Asian infrastructure here.

"By the end of 1995, nearly half of all international airports in the region will be capacity constrained, unable to cope with demand at major periods of the day," he added.

The Asia Pacific's share of world-wide scheduled passenger traffic will have jumped from just 26.6 percent in 1985 to over 50 percent in 2010, according to IATA calculations.

And despite efforts to expand current facilities and to build new airports, the long gestation period for these projects was pushing Asia towards a chronic shortage in air transport infrastructure.

"Substantial as the planned investment is compared with other regions of the world, there is a grave danger that it will not be sufficient," Meredith said.

IATA estimates that about US$200 billion will be needed to finance airport facilities in the region up to 2010.

Major airport projects are already underway across Asia, with plans for 20 new international airports in China alone.

Airport facilities are also being built or have been completed in Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok, Japan's Kansai, Kuala Lumpur's Sepang, Singapore's Changi and India's Bombay, Bangalore and New Delhi.

Officials blamed high capital costs, partly caused by spiraling land costs in places like Hong Kong, as well as environmental concerns for the shortage in airport infrastructure investment.

But experts have pointed out that economic spin-offs from the airports are expected to be substantial.

Aside from rising passenger traffic, air cargo is expected to almost triple by 2010 and the economic benefits of such growth could reach $850 billion and create 15 million jobs by that year.

Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok alone should create 12,700 new off- airport jobs when it opens and the figure is expected to grow to 37,600 jobs by 2010, according to IATA projections.

Environmental worries from those living near airports have also stalled airport expansion programs, experts said.

Meredith urged Asian countries to set up regional frameworks to coordinate infrastructure investment with more emphasis on new technology and private financing.

"Going it alone is no longer feasible in a multinational environment," he said.