The Middle East’s $17 billion investment in airports means it will be one of the few regions of the world able to avoid the looming aviation infrastructure crisis, according to David Weaver, Group CEO of ESR Technology, an engineering, safety and risk management company that is exhibiting at the show.
In what the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has described as a “looming infrastructure crisis”, many countries and regions are failing to prepare adequately to meet demand – with major potential impact on the environment caused by inefficient use of airspace and flight delays.
Global airline traffic is expected to grow to 75bn passengers by 2011 – a 29% increase on those flying last year, according to IATA. “The numbers clearly show the world wants to fly,” Weaver says. “For many parts of the world, however, there seems no end in sight to the problem of flight delays. IATA has worked out that air traffic management bottlenecks will add 12% to airline fuel bills and cost the environment 73 million tones of unnecessary carbon dioxide emissions each year. These are issues that the aviation industry must confront.”
The Middle East is forecast to show the strongest international passenger demand growth, with an annual average growth rate of 6.8% driven by GDP expansion and significant new routes and capacity. Within the region, the United Arab Emirates at 8.4% will show the strongest growth, according to the IATA forecast.
Total Middle East international passenger numbers are forecast to be around 105m in 2011, an increase of 30m over 2006 levels. The total global fleet of aircraft is expected to nearly double by 2026, growing from 18,200 to more than 36,400.
Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s director general and chief executive, has described the lack of preparation to safely accommodate sustained growth in the aviation sector as “a looming infrastructure crisis.” But Weaver says: “Parts of the world are effectively managing infrastructure development to anticipate and meet demand - particularly the Middle East and China. But enormous expansion in other regions could be impacted by insufficient airport and air traffic management capacity.”
According to data from research company Proleads, there are currently 59 active airport projects in Gulf Co-operation Council countries worth a combined total of well over $17 billion. Far and away the biggest are the colossal Dubai World Central currently under construction and Qatar’s New Doha International Airport.
Dubai World Central aims to be the world’s largest passenger and cargo hub. With an annual cargo capacity of 12 million tonnes, it will be more than three times that of Memphis, USA, today's largest cargo hub. A passenger capacity of more than 120 million will be almost 50% more than Atlanta, USA, currently the world's busiest passenger airport.
On final completion, Qatar’s giant airport project it will be able to handle 50 million passengers, 320,000 planes, and 2m tonnes of cargo a year.
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Source: Flight Daily News
