Page 36 - SINGAPORE AIRSHOW 2024 - INSIGHT

in China has gone bust. also make a special call out to difficult for the industry to meet its
India, because India was about 5% responsibilities, so that is going to
So taking all that into consideration, or less of international traffic of the be the challenge.
I’m sure the Chinese government’s Asia-Pacific region, but now they’re
priorities are really to boost the close to 10%. That’s quite remark-
domestic economy, and they want able, and Air India has only just And I know a lot of effort will be put
to boost domestic spending. They started to taking delivery of the first in by the airlines to get there, in
don’t want Chinese to be traveling of the 470 aircraft it ordered. So, conjunction with the fuel suppliers,
all over the world and spending India and ASEAN, will pick up some as well as the governments. The
money overseas. So while there are of the lag of the Chinese market. governments need also to provide
incentives to try and help people the necessary support for the indus-
cope with whatever is happen- Q So, what about challenges try to be able to get there.
ing in China, as far as travel and going forward? What do you see
tourism is concerned, the Chinese as some of the major issues? Q How serious are cyber threats?
government is focusing on interna-
tional tourist visitor arrivals, and the Well, I would say the immediate
Chinese government has actually issue is the impact of the supply GPS spoofing is serious, and the
expanded its offers of visas and chain issues on delivery of aircraft industry needs to come together
also visa-free travel, expanded the and spares and parts, which is and try and find solutions to ensure
authorized destination status. So really slowing the airlines’ ability to that we are not victims of any of
they welcome international visitors, respond to the strong demand. I these security threats. It is some-
so that they will come and spend spoke to all the CEOs {at the AAPA thing that we need to keep a close
money in China, but they don’t want November AGM] and every one of eye on. The world is such a con-
the Chinese to really be traveling them with the exception of maybe nected world, and every Tom, Dick,
out and spending money overseas. Singapore Airlines and Cathay, are and Harry is having a go at it. We
saying that they are facing these need to be watchful of that. Safety
Q What countries have got visa- problems, and the manufacturers is always central to whatever we do,
free travel into China? also acknowledge that this is a is a very integral part of our day-to-
problem. It’s not only aircraft, but day affairs, so I think that is there.
It’s mainly Southeast Asian coun- also engines, so I think that is the
tries. It was just announced that immediate problem, and we need Q Airfares are still high, particu-
Singapore and China have agreed to fix this as quickly as possible, but larly long distance. What is on the
to visa-free travel. Thailand has it’s easier said than done, because relief horizon?
provided visa-free travel to the this is a function of supply chain
Chinese, and I think the Chinese issues, and supply chain issues is
government wants to reciprocate. a function of the geopolitical ten- I think right now what we are
Once China is back on its feet, sions that we are seeing around the seeing, [the high fares], espe-
and the Chinese government has world. cially in the Asia-Pacific region, is
a history of fixing its problems very because they have not been able
quickly, we would expect that in Q What about the environmental to ramp up their flights to the same
about six months’ time, China will challenge? level as the demand. Once the
again be punching above its weight demand and supply reach some
again. SAF is probably the most import- sort of equilibrium, I think fares will
ant measure, but the cost of SAF start moderating. At the end of the
Q What about the wider region? is at least two to three times of day, it is a function of competition.
fossil fuels. So the question is So the Middle East carriers have
ASEAN is doing very well. It’s not how the industry is going to meet already got a head start. They have
only Singapore, but Thailand and these requirements. We [AAPA already surpassed 2019 levels,
the Philippines doing very well, and member airlines] are trying to at and they are ramping up flights
Hong Kong. If you just think about least achieve five per cent of SAF and capacity, and I’m sure they will
what Cathay Pacific was going by 2030, but I think ultimately, it’ll provide a lot of competition for all
through during COVID, and how depend on whether the large fuel airlines in the world, including the
long their borders were shut, it’s companies, the oil and gas majors, ones in Asia-Pacific region. And I
quite remarkable what Cathay has will come to the party, because with was also reading that the European
been able to do, and Hong Kong is just the so-called start-ups alone, carriers are also adding flights, into
the Asia-Pacific region..
also picking up very quickly. I would like Neste, is going to be very

36 SINGAPORE AIRSHOW 2024 INSIGHT ∙ FEBRUARY 2024 WWW.GBP.COM.SG