EVENTS: ASIA-PACIFIC CONFERENCE
Busy times
Joe Bates looks back at some of the highlights from the recent ACI Asia-Pacific Regional Assembly, Conference and Exhibition in Phuket.
Despite the beautiful backdrop of Phuket, business and the opportunities and challenges facing Asia-Pacific’ s airports remained top on the agenda at the recent ACI Asia-Pacific Regional Assembly, Conference and Exhibition in Thailand. This year’ s Airports Authority of Thailand hosted event attracted over 400 delegates from 33 countries, few of which would have been left in any doubt about the huge growth potential of the region.
Indeed, conference sessions about the role airports play in advancing tourism and economic development; sustainable development; as well as planning the future of airport operations and driving cultural changes within airport organisations, all provided a brief snapshot of the type of challenges and opportunities facing ACI’ s fastest growing region.
In his opening remarks, Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad Abdul Majid, managing director of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad and president of ACI Asia-Pacific, reminded delegates that traffic across the region increased by 7.5 % in 2012, and showed no signs of slowing down.
“ Our airports handled 1.5 billion passengers last year – that’ s 30 % of the world market. The top five airports in the world in terms of service delivery, also always come from our region. So, in terms of traffic growth, operational efficiency and service levels to customers, we did very well.
“ But this is just the start, as forecasts predict that this region will grow much further and become the biggest aviation market in the world. There is huge potential as far as Asia-Pacific is concerned. But this also brings its challenges. Passengers will become more selective, more discerning and want even higher levels of service from us in the coming years.
“ We must be up for the challenge. We must ensure that our airports have the capacity to accommodate the growth that is going to take place in this part of the world. We must have the capacity to allow airlines to grow and ensure that we have the facilities and services to meet customer expectations.
“ They are huge challenges, but I am very confident that based on what our airports have done in the last couple of years, we will be able to meet the challenge. But we certainly won’ t be able to do it by ourselves, we must realise that in order for us to deliver what we are expected to do as airports, we must
work with our stakeholders. This means governments, World Business Partners, tourism ministries, the airlines and others to achieve our goals.”
He added:“ ACI will continue its efforts in advancing the interests of airports and together with other stakeholders, will aim to provide the travelling public with an air transport system that is safe, secure, efficient and environmentally responsible.”
In his keynote address at the conference, Xiaoyu Zhao, vice president of the Asian Development Bank noted that Kathmandu’ s Tribhuvan International Airport and others in Bhutan, Afghanistan, Laos and Fiji were among the many smaller airports across the region to have benefited from financial aid from the bank.
The theme of the 2013 conference was‘ Sustainable Airport Business – Expanding Aviation Beyond Boundaries’, so it was fitting that tourism, and specifically the role airports play in tourism development, was the subject of the first session.
Moderator, ACI World’ s World Business Partner chairman and Airbiz managing director, Greg Fordham, noted that Melbourne Airport’ s success in attracting Emirates to the gateway in the mid 1990s was a perfect example of what can be achieved.
“ Back then, Melbourne was considered the rust belt of Australia due to the industries it had lost,” recalled Fordham.“ People were leaving it in their droves and all international traffic to Australia came through Sydney, so its decision to work with the government of the State of Victoria to attract Emirates came somewhat from the left field.
“ The strategy seemed even more bizarre because back then nobody had heard of Emirates or Dubai, let alone thought about travelling with a Middle Eastern carrier. But they made it happen, and in 1996 it launched three services a week to Melbourne. Today it operates three services a day to Melbourne and 84 weekly to Australia, many with A380 aircraft.
“ Melbourne Airport has since developed the strategy and is now focusing very much on China. As a result, the airport is tailoring its retail, branding and even signage to the Chinese traveller. Victoria’ s government is signing sister city agreements and trade deals and Tourism Victoria is looking at marketing campaigns with airlines.
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AIRPORT WORLD / JUNE-JULY 2013