Airlines in the Asia-Pacific region will grow strongly in the next few years but air transport in Europe is likely to stagnate, the outgoing head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Friday.
Airlines in the Asia-Pacific region will grow strongly in the next
few years but air transport in Europe is likely to stagnate, the
outgoing head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA)
said on Friday.
IATA president Giovanni Bisignani told the La Tribune newspaper that "Europe is by far the biggest problem for the sector."
Bisignani
blamed European governments for being more interested in raising taxes
from the industry than in supporting growth and providing
infrastructure, and also warned that the rising cost of fuel was a
"disaster."
"The centre of gravity of air transportation is
shifting towards Asia because of the growth of its economy but also
because governments there are careful to take measures to develop the
sector," he said.
"When I see the situation in Europe, I am pessimistic."
But
"I am very optimistic when I look at the trend in the Asia-Pacific
region, and the involvement of states in creating favourable conditions
to help the growth of traffic."
Bisignani said that air transport
in Europe was undermined by weak economic growth in the European area
and also by the fact that air transportation was not "unfortunately a
priority for European governments."
He said that during a crisis
for the sector arising from volcanic ash spread from Iceland last year
there had been "no consensus between governments."
He observed:
"Only taxes on companies and their passengers seem to interest them...
And while there is a wave of taxes, there is no action on structural
measures which, in terms of infrastructure, would enable companies to
be competitive in a market environment."
He gave the example of a single European air space which had been promised since the 1990s but was "still a dream."
By
contrast, he forecast that the Asia-Pacific region would account for
30.0 percent of global traffic in three years' time from 26.0 percent
now and that North America would account for 23.0 percent.
He
also held that a system for the exchange of carbon emissions quotas for
the sector in 2012 would be difficult to set up because of opposition
from the United States, Russia, Japan, China and Australia.
"We
are ready to accept such a system on condition that it apply across the
world under the aegis of the International Civil Aviation
Organization," he said.
Bisignani also expressed concern about the rise of the price of fuel, declaring it to be "a disaster."
In June, Bisignani hands over the IATA presidency to Tony Tyler, the former head of Cathay Pacific airline.
