IATA chief urges Asia to support aviation, tourism

Pierre J. Jeanniot, director general of the International Air Transport Association, called on Asian governments Monday to support the aviation and tourism industries, which have been hard hit by the ongoing regional economic crisis.

"One of the important reasons (to visit Asia) is to remind (Asian) governments of the importance of aviation to the region's economic recovery," Jeanniot told a news conference in Tokyo.

Jeanniot stressed that the governments should cooperate in aiding economic recovery by promoting tourism, asking that airport-related fees such as landing charges not be raised for at least three years.

Jeanniot is on a five-day tour of Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. He is meeting with local airline executives and government officials to get a better understanding of what Asian airlines are now facing and exchange views on the issue.

As an example of the seriousness of the economic turmoil, Jeanniot said that, in an interim forecast, IATA has readjusted the average growth rate of passenger traffic in the Asia-Pacific region from 4.4 percent to 7.7 percent over the five-year period from 1997 to 2001.

Jeanniot stressed that one out of every eight jobs in Asia is related to the tourism industry, which he predicts will seriously suffer because of the economic crisis.

During his Asian tour, Jeanniot has been providing advice to airlines on how to improve services and raise the efficiency of operations. In a Monday meeting with Hiromichi Toya, vice minister of international affairs at the Transport Ministry, Jeanniot asked that the Japanese government make efforts to increase the capacities of Tokyo and Osaka airports.

"Japan is short of capacity, which restricts growth. We encourage the government to build a second runway at Narita, more airports in the vicinity of Tokyo and further increase the capacity at Kansai (International Airport)," he said.