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Asia-Pacific to Lead Air Passenger Traffic Growth Over Next20 Years: Minister

Posted on: Tuesday, 21 February 2006, 09:00 CST

Asia-Pacific to lead air passenger traffic growth over next 20 years: Minister

SINGAPORE, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Asia-Pacific region is expected to lead the growth in air passenger traffic over the next 20 years, said Singapore's Minister for Transport Yeo Cheow Tong here Monday.

He quoted the Air Transport Action Group as forecasting that 870 million passengers will be traveling to, within and from the region by 2014, more than double the number in 1999.

"By 2022, eight of the top ten airports using large aircraft will be in Asia and nine of the top ten large aircraft routes will serve Asia," he added.

Speaking at the second International Air Transport Association (IATA) Aviation Summit, Yeo noted that the significant liberalization of air services by the Chinese and Indian governments has boosted the world's traffic growth, tourism, trade and investments.

Global air passenger traffic rose by nearly 8 percent and airlines ordered more than 2,000 aircraft from Airbus and Boeing in 2005, according to Yeo, who also mentioned threats to the industry's growth such as rising fuel prices, terrorism and the avian flu, as well as infrastructure or regulatory constraints in some countries in the region.

Topics being discussed in the one-day summit include, among others, the future of the industry, key industry trends, emerging markets and changes in travel patterns.

The meeting is held in conjunction with this year's Asian Aerospace, the world's third largest and Asia's biggest airshow, which will officially open on Tuesday.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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