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Asia-Pacific aviation association initiated
A two-day meeting of Asia-Pacific members of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), held in Yogyakarta on Thursday and Friday, has proposed the establishment of an Asia-Pacific grouping
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two-day meeting of Asia-Pacific members of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), held in Yogyakarta on Thursday and Friday, has proposed the establishment of an Asia-Pacific grouping.
'Indonesia has the chance of making history because this meeting was initiated by Indonesia,' Transportation Deputy Minister Bambang Susantono said on the sidelines of the Special Meeting of the Members of the Montreal Group.
He said that Asia Pacific was the biggest flight market in the world, accounting for about a third of global flight passengers.
'Some two thirds of the world's population are also in the Asia-Pacific region and this is an extraordinary market,' he added.
Participating countries included Australia, China, Japan, India, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan and Indonesia.
The proposal resulting from the meeting, said Bambang, would be brought to the ICAO headquarters in Montreal by the end of this year to be further deliberated at the organization's triennial meeting.
'The process still has a long way to go but it has to be initiated with an agreement between the countries in the region,' Bambang said.
Other regional organizations have already come into existence such as AFCAC in Africa, LACAC in Latin America and ECAC in Europe.
Through such a regional grouping, according to Bambang, the interests of the respective regions were easier to work toward. 'The Montreal Group is an informal organization comprising members of the ICAO board and is a medium for the interests of civil aviation in the Asia Pacific region,' he said.
Separately, the ministry's air transportation director Djoko Murjaatmodjo said that the Asia Pacific region had been expected to lead the world's economy in the future.
The fact that the global economic crisis did not affect flights in the region proved this, said Djoko.
'China, India and Indonesia have relatively big domestic markets,' he said. For Indonesia, he added, economic growth of 1 percent would improve the flight sector by 1.2 to 1.5 percent.
'The world needs 15 years to achieve a double-digit increase in the number of passengers, we only need 10 years,' Djoko said.
