A flurry of airport activity in Asia following the opening of Osaka/Kansai should encourage airline planners worried about growing congestion in the region, but the news is not all good.
On the down side, Chinese and UK negotiators still have not resolved all the issues surrounding Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok. In November, the two sides made major strides with broad agreements on financing and land sales, but they still have not settled such details as borrowing and repayment schedules, debt guarantee language, terms for incorporating the airport authority, airport franchise awards, and a host of lesser issues.
The other concern is Manila, where the Philippines government is apparently the only party convinced that the capital's air traffic will support two international airports. It has invited proposals on a build, operate, and transfer basis for new terminals at the present Manila airport and the development of Clark Field, the former US air force base north of Manila. The ambitious Clark Field project, which is scheduled for completion by 1998, could cost up to $3 billion to complete and includes a 45-mile rail link to Manila.
The country's president Fidel Ramos says the two projects will complement each other, and invokes Tokyo and Osaka as examples of other cities supporting two airports. But overseas developers competing for the Clark Field contract are less confident that air traffic will match government forecasts or that airlines, if given a choice, will leave Manila airport, which is closer to the city, even though it is suffering from traffic congestion.
As these issues unfold, the trend towards secondary Asian airports continues. A new one opens this month at Zhuhai, China and Subic Bay in the Philippines nears completion as the new FedEx hub in Asia. Zhuhai has built one of China's largest, most modern airports in a record three years solely from its own funds, a monument to the entrepreneurial zeal of China's special economic zones. Located just west of the Pearl River Delta, Zhuhai will only serve domestic flights even though its 4,000 metre runway could handle long range aircraft.
At Subic Bay final touches are being put to the former US air force base that FedEx has chosen as its hub and maintenance base. The airport is scheduled to open in April.
There are problems associated with both these airports, however. FedEx seems no closer to gaining Tokyo's approval for fifth freedom flights between Japan and Subic Bay: these rights are central to FedEx's Asian strategy. And Zhuhai's irrepressible mayor still hopes to badger Beijing into granting international status to his new airport, despite Chinese assurances to neighbouring Macau that its international airport, which is set to open in July, will not face competition.
There are problems associated with both these airports, however. FedEx seems no closer to gaining Tokyo's approval for fifth freedom flights between Japan and Subic Bay: these rights are central to FedEx's Asian strategy. And Zhuhai's irrepressible mayor still hopes to badger Beijing into granting international status to his new airport, despite Chinese assurances to neighbouring Macau that its international airport, which is set to open in July, will not face competition.
Source: Airline Business
