LEADERSHIP
Over the worst ACI Asia-Pacific’s director general, Stefano Baronci, provides an update on how airports in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific are faring in their recovery from COVID. What is the prognosis for the recovery of international traffic across the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions in 2022? We expect Asia-Pacific and the Middle East to recover at rates between -40% and -50% versus the projected baseline, a reflection of the different reopening approaches taken by governments. The Middle East, where air transport markets are predominantly international, took a more pragmatic approach, reopening with health-related safeguards such as testing and vaccinations. Asia-Pacific still provides a mixed picture, with some positive developments ahead. Larger markets such as China, Japan and South Korea remain more restrictive, operating under blanket travel bans or mandatory multi-week quarantines. Recently, states such as Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, the Philippines and Australia chose to reopen to international passengers without quarantine subject to undertaking required vaccination, which is in line with the approach taken by many other countries and the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Are any countries ahead of the curve in terms of the recovery of international services? From the onset, it became quite clear international traffic would be hit much harder than the domestic component. Hence, air transport markets which were predominantly dependent on international traffic suffered and are still suffering. China, India, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, are faring better due to domestic traffic. Some countries have taken steps conducive to the effective reopening of their air transport markets. Singapore is a good example. It committed to steadily reopening its borders with the aim to set up more quarantine-free travel agreements. Practically all countries in the Middle East and an increasing number of countries in Asia-Pacific have abandoned zero-COVID approaches to fight the pandemic. Recent studies conducted by Oxera and Edge Health in Europe demonstrated that travel restrictions imposed in the wake of Omicron had little or no impact on the spread of the virus.
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AIRPORT WORLD/ISSUE 1, 2022
Is it possible to say what COVID has cost the region’s airports in terms of job losses, lost revenues and passenger numbers? Compared with ACI’s projected baseline, it is estimated that Asia-Pacific and Middle Eastern airports, in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, lost 55.3% and 68.5% of their passenger traffic respectively. This is equivalent to 1.95 billion and 300 million passengers respectively. Last year demonstrated a comparable picture with over two billion passengers lost by Asia-Pacific airports and over 300 million Middle East passengers lost. The losses in revenues are proportional to the losses in passenger traffic. In 2020, airports in Asia-Pacific lost $33 billion, while Middle East airports faced a decline of $10.5 billion. In 2021, these figures were $28 billion and $11 billion, respectively. As for jobs directly supported by aviation, ATAG’s latest report suggests that 800,000 jobs are at risk in Asia-Pacific (19% of the total) and 115,000 in the Middle East (19%). The high-level preliminary outlook suggests passengers and airport revenues will marginally improve in 2022, but these hinge on political decisions on the reopening of air transport markets.
How has ACI Asia-Pacific helped the region’s airports during this time? We focused on ensuring that airport operations and public health measures were implemented in accordance with ICAO CART recommendations. Due attention was also given to economic survival of the industry and safeguarding interests in the future. This is the area where we provided much support to our members, advocating for state-support of the industry to the extent possible and risk-based approaches to travel protocols. We also participated in many dialogues with governments and policymakers on the coordinated reopening of the industry.
