Ian Putzger finds out more about the growing cargo appeal of central and western China.

China’s westward drive to spread development from the country’s coastal region to the interior appears to have acted as the catalyst for international cargo development.

Last December, Kashgar joined the ranks of China’s aspiring cargo gateways with the launch of freighter service to Islamabad, courtesy of Rayyan Air.

The authorities in distant Beijing bestowed special development zone status to the area, coupled with an investment package for infrastructure development.

It remains to be seen if, and how soon, Kashgar will emerge as a significant gateway for international cargo flows. What is beyond doubt though, is that the government’s ‘Go West’ campaign is drawing international freighter operations to new entry points.

“We have been talking about the western region for ten years. This is the first year that we are seeing solid results,” remarks Titus Diu, chief operating officer of Air China Cargo, the recently minted joint venture between Air China and Cathay Pacific.

The migration of manufacturing from the Pearl River and Yangtze River deltas has stretched supply chains and transit times for international airfreight shipments, generating a growing demand for flights to points closer to the emerging production centres in China’s interior.

According to freight forwarders, there is no clear pattern of settlement, as provinces and cities compete aggressively for business, and investment is driven by incentives rather than logistics considerations.

Nevertheless, a number of strong gateway candidates has emerged. Having attracted multi-national IT giants like Intel and Hewlett Packard, Chengdu and Chongqing are widely regarded as the front runners, followed by Zhengzhou and Wuhan.

“Chongqing, Chengdu and Zhengzhou are becoming more prevalent,” notes Michael Drake, managing director for the Asia-Pacific region at TNT Express.

TNT was the first international operator to mount scheduled widebody freighter service to Chongqing, which kicked off at the end of last October. The express company runs three B747-400F flights a week between the Chinese city and its European hub in Liège.

“We went there on the back of a few clients. It’s not a massive market, but it’s growing rapidly,” Drake says.

Large multi-national logistics providers are also moving in. Having set up a branch in Chengdu last year, Panalpina opened an office in Chongqing in February. Air China Cargo is looking to increase its sales presence in the city, Diu says.

Chongqing’s international cargo volumes soared 580% year-on-year to 18,000 tonnes in the first four months of this year. In May, Chinese cargo airline, Yangtze River Express, started a twice weekly B747-400F flight from the city to Luxembourg via Moscow.

More carriers are expected to move in, spurred by the announcement in May that PC manufacturer, Acer, will follow the lead of Hewlett Packard, Foxconn and Cisco and open a manufacturing plant in Chongqing.

Initially, TNT could not maximise the B747-400’s payload, as Chongqing’s runway was not long enough, but it has since been extended, a move that reflects the airport authority’s determination not to lose momentum.

“We are working with an airport authority that wants to make things happen,” Drake comments.

In June, the airport announced plans to build a 1.8 million square feet cargo terminal to accommodate projected growth. According to estimates from the Chongqing Economy and Information Technology Commission, some 30 million laptops will
be produced in the city this year, with one-third of them likely leaving by air.

Chongqing’s business development group is aiming to increase IT production capabilities to produce 80 million laptops and 50 million cell phones by 2015.

Air China Cargo added Chengdu to its freighter network in April with a twice weekly B747-400F run from Milan, which continues to Shanghai, one month after Korean Air mounted freighter flights from its Seoul base via Chengdu to Europe.

“We carry cargo from Chengdu to Shanghai and on to North America. This has helped with our operation, increasing loads out of Shanghai both on freighters and passenger flights,” says Diu.

Zhengzhou’s first foray into the international arena was short-lived, but it is about to be revived. AirBridgeCargo Airlines had launched B747-400F flights to Europe via Moscow last September, but suspended the operation after a few months, citing lack of capacity at the airport’s warehouse.

However, the opening of a larger cargo facility in early August has technically paved the way for the service to be relaunched, according to Robert Song, vice president for the Asia-Pacific region.

“We have two planes in D-check at the moment, which are due back in August. Then we will resume Zhengzhou flights, starting with three flights per week,” he says.

Christian Hein, vice president for airfreight for Asia-Pacific at forwarder DBSchenker, sees good potential in the area. “Zhengzhou will be coming up,” he comments.

And he could well be right because it appears as if quite a few leading international cargo carriers are waiting for the “right moment” to launch services to China’s up and coming gateways.

“We are looking at it closely. It’s all about timing. If you move in too early, you lose your shirt, if you’re too late you miss the boat,” remarks Robert Van de Weg, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Cargolux.

“There are a few big shippers that have moved over, but compared to the massive volumes in the Yangtze River Delta, this traffic is still relatively small. They are trendsetters, but we don’t see the volumes yet to drive the market,” he continues.

One concern is the imbalance in traffic flows. “The question for carriers is what cargo they can get on the import side. These points are export-driven,” notes Charles Kaufmann, senior vice president for airfreight, North Asia Pacific at DHL Global Forwarding.

Over the past year, the gap between imports and exports has shrunk, propelled by Chinese consumers’ growing appetite for luxury goods and brands from overseas, particularly European brands. However, the consumer markets in the coastal areas of China are vastly larger than those in the emerging manufacturing centres in the interior.

For his part, Drake stresses the industrial component to generate incoming volumes. “Manufacturing needs input, which will drive inbound traffic. We see that in Chongqing,” he says.

For all the recent momentum, inbound yields are still significantly lower than margins on exports to Europe or North America. Faced with the prospect of load factors in the 60-70% range in the sluggish days after the lunar New Year holiday,
Chinese airlines cancelled a number of freighter sections to North America, even though freight was piling up on the other end.

In the new markets in China’s interior, the advantage lies with the Chinese airlines, as they can feed traffic from the up and coming production areas to their international gateways, as Air China Cargo is doing.

Moreover, they can utilise their domestic passenger flights to ferry cargo between gateways and emerging manufacturing points.

Cathay Pacific has tried to tap Chongqing traffic with all-cargo charters, supplemented with bellyhold lift out of the city and other emerging production centres by its sister company Dragonair.

Belly capacity is limited, though, as Dragonair operates chiefly A320 aircraft, admits Nick Rhodes, director and general manager of cargo at Cathay.

“We try to upgrade our passenger flights to those cities to A330s, which can carry a lot more cargo, but there aren’t that many in Dragonair’s fleet,” he says.

However, both Cathay and Air China Cargo have run charters to Chengdu on a regular basis. “We are thinking of serving Chengdu with scheduled freighters, but we have not worked out the best approach yet,” admits Diu.

Rhodes sees benefits in a scheduled Chengdu freighter, but points out that the bureaucratic hurdles make this a somewhat challenging process.

Asia-Pacific Airports 2011 Issue 2

SITA’s Damian Hickey reflects on the growth of the ‘Intelligent Airport’ and capacity enhancing benefits of IT. 

SITA’s ‘Intelligent Airport’ vision is one which responds to the fact that there are now seven billion people on this planet and there will be about five billion arrivals and departures from airports this year alone.

This phenomenal growth was exemplified for us when we were asked to support Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) in handling a record daily influx of 260,000 passengers during the Beijing Olympics.

Throughout Asia, airports are expanding to handle growing passenger and airline demand. Where expansion cannot take place either for space or environmental reasons, the Intelligent Airport concept really comes into play.

It is all about helping airports to manage growth by leveraging the convergence of three trends: passenger self-service, mobility and collaborative decision making in order to create a smart predictive environment for the most effective flow of passengers and cargo through an airport.

Improving customer service and reducing the cost of doing business are the key drivers behind the development of the Intelligent Airport vision which promises to be even more significant than the introduction of Common-Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE) for airline check-in in 1984 or the development of the first online booking engine in 1995.

Over the next three years, we will see insightful business intelligence delivered to the airport’s multiple stakeholders, bringing about a profound change in airport operations with the systematic elimination of cumbersome manual operations, greater automation and real-time information sharing between all stakeholders with the true integration of Passenger Services Systems (PSS), Departure Control Systems (DCS) and Baggage Reconciliation Systems (BRS).

Whether for tracking passenger movements, end-to-end situational awareness of key assets and resources, or rapid real-time collaborative decisions, new technology –combined with passengers’  desire for more self-service options – has the power to unite the operational practices of airlines, airport operators, ground handlers and others within the airport.

New technologies such as smartphones and tablets, near field communication, WiFi, Bluetooth tracking and ‘augmented reality’, hold the key to reaching new heights in an airport’s operational performance, while keeping passengers always connected and in touch with the information they need to plan and personalise their journeys.

SITA’s new Passenger Self Service Survey gives a dazzling insight into the synergies, which these technologies can create in the airport environment.

The outstanding finding is that the number of smartphones carried by passengers has doubled within a year, up from 28% to 54%. They may not be too interested yet in receiving shopping deals, but they are definitely hungry for any trip-related information that will ease their passage through the airport and onto the plane.

Passengers can have all the travel information they need in the palm of their hand through a mobile device/smartphone. This is mood-enhancing stuff because they can know whether or not their flights will depart on time, and will have confirmation that their bags are safely loaded on the flight. Their mobile device will direct them to the shortest path to their gate.

It will become routine for airlines and other service providers to know a passenger’s location on an opt-in basis. Passengers not at the gate for boarding will be reminded directly via their mobile device.

Meanwhile, if advanced analytics predict that a passenger cannot board in time, the passenger will be automatically rebooked and his or her bags off-loaded. And the flight will depart on time.

Technology makes it possible for airport operators to reduce wait times and manage queues as more passengers activate Bluetooth tracking on their mobile devices.

Meaningful measurement requires that just one in ten passengers have Bluetooth on.

Real-time business intelligence also allows easy deployment of resources to tackle potential bottlenecks increasing the quality of passengers’ dwell time and improving retail spend.

The day is not too far off when Air Traffic Control and aircraft turnaround will improve and flying time be reduced through improved communications between airports and the implementation of an “intranet of the air” or System Wide Information Management (SWIM) enabling all stakeholders on the ground and in the air to share Air Traffic Management (ATM) data.

Mobile workforce solutions and the elimination of manual paper-based processes are already having a significant impact on productivity.

These scenarios offer a glimpse of the convenience, which the era of the Intelligent Airport will usher in. For airports to act more intelligently, the IT eco-system must become smarter at managing information flows, coping with the complex mix of players and processes, and overcoming the inability of a multiplicity of systems to share and analyze data effectively.

What will define an Intelligent Airport will be its ability to track, manage and share real-time information about all its assets and its capacity to optimise the passenger journey, airport processes and decision-making for all stakeholders.

Aircraft will be tracked to minimise delays, reduce fuel consumption and improve turn-around time. The mobile workforce will know about disruptions in real-time through their hand-held devices and be able to react more efficiently.

Passengers will be recognised, guided through the airport, informed in real-time in the case of delays/gate changes and, if necessary, reminded of where and when they should reach a particular point via their mobile devices.

Their baggage will be tracked and traced to improve transfers even from flights that arrive late. Vehicles will be tracked, allocated and re-routed based on real-time needs.

So why are airports not there yet? Primarily, it’s because systems and processes have evolved independently or with minimal communication, and with inefficient overlaps of data and resources. These work to manage specific fields, but fail to address the airport as an integrated time-based supply chain.

Systems need to be better integrated, real-time information needs to be shared, and communication infrastructure needs to be ubiquitous, because all stakeholders need to work together intelligently and coherently to avoid strains.

What’s needed is a unique, common situational awareness, which will take the airport to the next level of efficiency and customer service.

A truly integrated Intelligent Airport portfolio is one where data is not only shared in real-time but also improves decision making by alerting stakeholders to events and changing patterns based on more accurate predictions and forecasting. The following three areas need to be addressed.

First, the installation of a foundation layer that will strengthen and reinforce infrastructure with zero downtime, and high-performance sensing technology. Second, there must be a focus on operational efficiency, to improve the passenger experience while reducing costs utilising solutions that incorporate both the digital traveller and the digital aircraft requirements.

Finally, as a third layer, business intelligence solutions are required in order to make better decisions with the right information at the right time, based on the quality data provided by the other two layers, in order to complete the shift to a proactive, Intelligent Airport.

Asia-Pacific Airports 2011 Issue 2

How is Melbourne and Victoria state coping with the changing face of Australian tourism? Peta Tomlinson reports. 

For the travel retail industry, the rise of the Asian passenger represents its biggest global opportunity, but that opportunity comes with a notice – treat this market with the respect it deserves and, most of all, give the travelling Asian consumers 

the shopping experience they deserve.

The key to travel retail success remains the same as that for any operator in any retail channel in the world: understand your consumer.

Respecting the consumer begins with ensuring that you have a thorough understanding of them, their behaviour and their needs. Unfortunately, all too often some operators in the travel retail industry cling to the headlines of Asian traffic growth as the whole solution, and not as simply the opening of a door to the real opportunity.

At LS travel retail, we have worked hard for many years developing our insight into the needs of the Asian travelling consumer – and our first and most important finding is that there is no such thing as ‘one Asian consumer’.

This finding reflects the incredible diverse set of countries and cultures of this remarkable region. If you visit the local markets of Asia’s great cities such as Beijing, Delhi and Hong Kong, you will always find a unique offer and experience at each destination that leaves a different impression in travellers’ minds.

For thousands of years, these markets have met their customers’ needs and, in creating retail offers at airports across the region, we aim to meet the modern passengers’ needs by tailoring the retail offer to the unique needs of the Asian shopper and the unique setting that each airport provides.

In the same way that individual travellers take away specific memories of the different cities and markets they visit, so too will they remember their airport shopping experience.

Travellers are often intrigued by their holiday destinations and will have accumulated a vast amount of information, time and effort in familiarising themselves with their destination and ensuring their activities are a fit to their lifestyle.

Asian travellers, a busier and world-weary bunch, are often committed to creating their idea of the ‘perfect’ vacation. Within this, shopping for personal use and gifting are strong elements, especially in the souvenir category as one of the ‘must-dos’ to re-affirm their ‘been-there-done-that’ attitude.

However, when targeting the luxury shopper in particular, we must keep in mind that their retail experiences may extend from those frantic city markets to some of the world’s most luxurious and sophisticated modern retail destinations.

This mix of experiences shape their expectations and we must never forget that the traveller, although ‘confined’ to the airport lounge for a number of hours, is never a captive audience – not least in that mobile technology gives them many options for using their dwell time.

Across our global retail operations at LS travel retail, we have not only benefitted from increases in traffic but also managed to achieve significant real term increases in sales levels at every new airport contract we have won.

We do this through a holistic approach that begins by building the shopping experience on a platform of global expertise and local insight – we understand our target shopper in the region.

What do we know about them? Well, although there is no such thing as ‘one Asian shopper’, we can identify common patterns of shopper behaviour and their needs that we then integrate into the design of the retail experience.

For example:

• Throughout an average trip involving multiple locations, Asian travellers allocate 44% of their total shopping spend to duty free purchases
• Their favourite product categories are technology products, perfumes and cosmetics, alcohol, clothing and souvenirs – accounting for approximately 2/3 of total trip spending
• Very few Asian travellers (1%) totally reject duty free when they travel and they usually allocate approximately 30 minutes of their free time in the airport (average 90 minutes) to shop in duty free
• Most (approximately two-thirds) of Asian travellers say that they enjoy browsing duty free when they travel. They take their time to shop, speak to staff and find out what’s new

These patterns indicate the scale of the sales opportunity, but they don’t tell us the whole story. For example, retailers face the challenge that despite strong participation in duty free shopping, there is an element of ‘going through the motions’ for some travellers. As such, generating foot traffic through the stores doesn’t automatically equate to increased sales.

However, this is where the true skills of the retailer can be exploited, as many travellers need to be inspired or presented with something motivating – a shopping experience that engages them and persuades them to buy.

To achieve real growth, travel retail must reach beyond the easy low-hanging fruit and reach higher by creating a stronger experience.

By understanding the passenger profile at each location and creating clear profiles of target shoppers, the retailer can tailor the retail offer to the needs of the target audience.

To reach our targeted travellers with an effective experience requires a partnership between retailers, landlords and suppliers to develop shared strategies that deliver the shopper’s needs and maximise the opportunity.

This shared or ‘trinity-style’ approach works and we have enjoyed significant new successes with our partners over the past year.

Among our most recent openings is So Chocolate at Singapore Changi, where the close support of brand partners such as Kraft and Mars helped create stunning in-store themed character displays designed to engage, entertain and convert the browsers drawn into the store by the theatre.

They included a Toblerone Ski Lift and a 2.7-metre high M&M’s character at the store entrance. As a result, the store not only provides a new experience in confectionery but also strongly supports the airport’s emphasis on innovative and positively surprising experiences for the shopper as part of the renowned ‘Changi Experience’.

Similarly, we also recently developed a new approach to fashion retailing at Singapore with The Fashion Gallery, created specifically for our target audience among Asian travellers.

The stylish and elegant store comprises of 17 renowned international brands showcasing the latest collections from jewelleries to ready to wear apparels.

Among the innovations in the store encouraging shoppers to browse for potential purchases was a specially installed Facebook ‘magic mirror’, in which they could capture a stylish image of themselves, send it directly to their Facebook page, and share it with friends around the world.

The final essential element of a great retail experience is the quality of service. Asian shoppers have high expectations of service quality so staff interaction is critical to ensuring conversion and increasing spend per passenger.

At LS travel retail, we believe that we invest far more strongly than almost any other retailer in service quality, through our own ‘OSCAR’ ISO 9001 certified training programme.

We believe that it brings added service solutions through intercultural coaching, tailoring the sales approach to the different cultures and evaluating service standards to ensure that we exceed
the shopper’s expectations.

This certainly works. For example, the Pandora jewellery store at Changi Airport (Terminal 1) was recently presented with a ‘Let’s Smile’ award by Changi Airport Group (CAG) for customer service satisfaction.

Similarly, staff at Relay were recognised at the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) Customer Excellence Awards 2010/11, with team and individual awards for delivering exceptional customer service.

Relay was also presented with an Outstanding Quality Tourism Services (QTS) Award 2011, recognition for accredited merchants who have sustained outstanding performance in the annual QTS scheme assessment undertaken by Hong Kong Productivity Council, the professional consultant commissioned by the Hong Kong Tourism Board.

Long-term forecasts show that Asian travellers are the dynamos that will power spending not only in travel retail but also in domestic channels across the world. The scale and importance of their influence makes them the most appealing audience for almost every brand in the world, particularly for luxury labels in every category.

In travel retail, we have to demonstrate to Asian travellers that all their needs are being met within an innovative, exciting and satisfying shopping experience.

We can only achieve that if retailers, suppliers and airport landlords share a common strategy to make it a reality.

As they travel the world in ever-greater numbers, flying further and more frequently, Asian travellers will respond positively to those retail locations that demonstrate a true understanding of their needs.

By building the travel retail experience on the bedrock of consumer insight, we can not only deliver the best possible shopping experience for the traveller but also maximise the long-term revenue opportunity for retailers, brands and airports.

Asia-Pacific Airports 2011 Issue 2

How is Melbourne and Victoria state coping with the changing face of Australian tourism? Peta Tomlinson reports. 

Australian tourism of late has experienced both the best of times, and the worst of times. For while the nation’s strong currency has been riding high as the envy of troubled economies globally, domestic tourism – once the industry’s backbone – has suffered as a result. It’s meant that Australians who once loved to holiday at home now prefer to skip overseas, where their dollar goes further.

On the flip side of this domestic tourist downturn, international tourists are arriving in droves. And increasingly, Melbourne in Victoria, long the ‘bridesmaid’ to New South Wales’ capital Sydney – at least as far as foreign visitor arrivals is concerned – is becoming their default gateway. 

All of Australia’s airports have fared well in terms of overseas arrivals over the past decade, but Melbourne is the standout. Tracking data by Tourism Futures International shows that from 2000 to 2010, a 5.3% annual growth rate of international arrivals in Melbourne far outpaced the national average of 1.8%, eclipsing second-placed Perth, which grew 2.5%, and Sydney and Brisbane, with 0.7% growth each.

Indeed, in its 2010/11 financial year ending June 30, international passenger arrivals at Melbourne International Airport – known locally as Tullamarine – grew by 18.5%, and since then the gateway has recorded monthly rises of 12%, 11.5% and 9.3% respectively.

Some might say it’s about time. Home of premier horse race the Melbourne Cup, the Australian F1 Grand Prix, the Australian Tennis Open and the hallowed Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia’s second-largest city is the events capital of the nation, and its cultural vanguard.

Melbourne consistently places among the top three in the ‘world’s most liveable cities’ rankings, and boasts both remarkable urban architecture and spectacular coastal and mountain scenery, in equal measure.

But people don’t come unless the packages are attractive, and to that end, a concerted effort by industry players bundled together as ‘Team Victoria’ is credited with Melbourne’s ascension.

Surmises Chris Woodruff, Melbourne Airport CEO: “In a nutshell, we’ve worked really hard, and we are now seeing the results.”

The strategy has involved a holistic approach looking at what a passenger wants from a total travel experience. Woodruff continues: “So we are not just selling Melbourne Airport, but Melbourne as a city, and Victoria as a state. To do this, we work

closely with the government as well as peak tourist bodies to offer a total package to our airline customers, and ultimately, to their passengers.

“We have a great city and a fabulous state with a sensational major events calendar, and working together as Team Victoria has proven to be a successful formula.”

Being the perennial number two airport in Australia is also fuelling Melbourne Airport’s drive to shoehorn Sydney out of the top spot, Woodruff concedes.

“We have worked hard to ensure that we offer our airlines great service and lower fees,” he says. “In terms of lower fees, we have decreased our overall security costs and passed these through to airlines. We also have a number of operational advantages that make us very attractive in terms of flexibility and scheduling.”

Woodruff believes Melbourne is well placed to be the national aviation gateway “as we are the only major Australian airport with a single terminal precinct and with curfew-free operations.”

That curfew is Melbourne’s trump card. Sydney has one – prohibiting passenger planes from taking off or landing between 11pm and 6am. Melbourne does not. Woodruff says Melbourne’s curfew-free operation enables the airport to offer airlines flexibility of scheduling – particularly sought by long-haul carriers – and increased flight options from the key growth markets in Asia.

Asian markets are lucrative, and growing – led by China, which seems on track to overtake the UK as the biggest source of overseas visitors to Australia.

In the first quarter of its 2011/12 financial year ending September 30, the number of international passengers using the gateway jumped 10% to 1.6 million, with growth led by a 26% rise in both Chinese and Philippine visitors.

In September alone, the number of Chinese visitors soared 29% and other countries with strong growth in passport holders included Vietnam (17.5%), Taiwan (16.3%), Singapore (8%), Philippines (9.4%) and Sri Lanka (9%).

In comparison, the so-called traditional markets of New Zealand, Canada and the UK grew by 7.9%, 5.6% and 5.1% respectively during September.

This influx from the East is reflected in route expansion by nearly every large Chinese carrier. In June 2011, China Eastern increased its Melbourne to Shanghai service from four times a week to daily. In August 2011, China Southern announced plans to double its Melbourne services by introducing twice-daily flights between Guangzhou and Melbourne from October 2011.

Last December, Air China was the first carrier to introduce a direct route between Beijing and Melbourne. The new route was announced as part of the airline’s greater plan to operate daily flights between China and Melbourne. Capacity has also been boosted at Cathay Pacific, which operates thrice-daily services from Melbourne via its Hong Kong hub.

Jetstar has announced a new Melbourne–Singapore–Beijing service, operating daily, which will carry up to 4,000 passengers per week. Elsewhere in Asian markets, Vietnam Airlines has begun a daily service from Melbourne to Ho Chi Minh City.

Woodruff indicated that these expanded airline offerings could only be the beginning as Melbourne Airport aggressively targets the Asian market.

“We see China and Asia as a whole continuing to be growth markets for us for the next 10-15 years,” he says.

Hence, the China factor features in the current A$330 million expansion of Melbourne Airport’s international departures area. The strategy incorporates a vastly enhanced passenger experience specifically tailored to Chinese passengers.

“To become the busiest airport in Australia, we need to do something different and we believe that our passion for our customers is that,” admits Woodruff.

“Through our Chinese Visitor Program, we’ve introduced Mandarin signage and Mandarin public announcements, and trained frontline staff to provide the best service we can for our Chinese passengers.”

He added that all international visitors will benefit from these improvements.

“For the first time in 40 years, we have purposely built retail offerings that are tailored to our passengers and reflect the culture of Melbourne.

“Many are trading now; the remaining new stores will open at the end of this year. Also a part of the international terminal expansion is the largest overhaul of our baggage systems, which we have also just completed.”

And to appeal to airlines, he notes that “we are upgrading our aerobridges to create greater flexibility for airlines, and allow a wider range of aircraft to utilise the gates”.

To further accommodate the growth at Melbourne Airport, over A$1 billion in infrastructure will be invested over the next five years – works aimed at improving the surrounding road network and terminal facilities.

Todd Blake, CEO of the Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC), believes these efforts will further Melbourne Airport’s efforts to be the preeminent Australian aviation gateway.

He particularly applauds the airlines’ route expansion, saying that direct international aviation access is of critical importance to the Victorian tourism sector.

“With future growth expected from markets that traditionally stay in Australia for a shorter period of time, direct aviation access is vital,” comments Blake.

“Melbourne has some strategic advantages over other destinations with two curfew-free airports (Tullamarine and Avalon) within close proximity of Melbourne, and a substantial land bank around both airports that will allow for increased capacity over time.”

With the way Australian tourism is shaping up, this represents a welcome revenue stream. Blake noted that VTIC’s Tourism Forecasting Committee, among others organisations, expects growth in domestic leisure travel to Victoria will be modest over the coming decade.

“Assuming this is the case, then international visitation to Victoria will become a key driver of economic growth,” insists Blake.

Melbourne Airport has pledged to build on its successful formula to help ensure this is so. “We have worked hard over the last few years and are now seeing the success of that effort,” adds CEO Chris Woodruff. “But we must not be complacent, and will continue to deliver benefits over other airports so that our passengers and airline customers will want to fly to Melbourne.”

Asia-Pacific Airports 2011 Issue 2