Asia-Pacific aviation infrastructure capacity at 'dire' levels

Aviation infrastructure shortcomings in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region have become a dire situation, prompting IATA to warn govts in the area of the potential cost to their economies if they do not quickly address airport and airspace congestion. IATA Regional VP, Asia-Pacific Conrad Clifford, said there was a huge shift occurring within the global activity of the airline industry, with China set to take over the US as the largest market and Asia-Pacific countries having some of the world’s fastest growing markets. India, for example, is seeing 20% year-on-year growth in terms of passenger numbers. The region’s airlines have enough new aircraft coming in to cope with that growth, but shortfalls in capacity in terms of runways, airport terminals and airspace have become “dire”, Clifford said. <br/>