Asia's airlines set for 20% market share

Asia's budget airlines are set to expand their share of the regional aviation market to 20 percent as compared to the less than one percent they had in 2001, an industry consultancy said Sunday.
The strongest growth will be seen in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Australia, the Sydney-based Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation said in a report.
The predictions were based on announced aircraft orders by Asian budget carriers which will increase their seat capacity sharply over the next few years, said Peter Harbison, executive chairman of the consultancy.
Last year also provided evidence of the budget carriers' phenomenal growth with overall capacity up 55 percent over 2005 while full-service carriers only saw a 0.9 percent increase, he said.
According to Harbision, the aviation sector in Asia is essentially a "two-speed market" with full-service carriers growing more slowly than the budget airlines as well as counterparts in India and China.
Harbision estimated the region and Middle East would need 10,200 pilots, 36,400 cabin crew, 26,800 maintenance engineers and 38,500 ground handlers over the next five to seven years.
11/03/07 PRESS TV, Iran

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Categories: Foreign Mar 2007, General Aviation Mar 2007, Low Cost General Mar 2007