ASIAN AIRLINES INDUSTRY MAY FLY LOW FOR NEXT TWO YEARS

By P. Vijian

HYDERABAD, March 31 (Bernama) -- The once thriving Asian airline industry
will grapple with a bleak future for the next two years as premium travellers
continue to drop, driving down demand and revenue, triggered by the global
economic meltdown, say industry experts.

With international trade and financial climate remaining uncertain, cargo
traffic and passenger market are shrinking dramatically worldwide, thus
impacting Asian airline operators directly.

"The Asian markets are going to be very negatively hit because premium
travellers are down significantly. Most of the premium carriers like Singapore
Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Thai and Cathay Pacific, their premium travellers
are significantly down," Kapil Kaul, chief executive of the Centre for Asia
Pacific Aviation (India sub-continent/Middle East) told Bernama.

"Business class travellers were down by 16 percent last month. Traffic
within Asia was down by 20 percent and Asia to Europe numbers were also down by
20 percent," he said.

Speaking at the 7th Routes Asia Forum in Hyderabad, industry players,
comprising both airport operators and airline owners, are pessimistic with
current economic lull looming large and fear the worse is yet to come for the
sector.

Earlier this month, the International Air Transport Association (IATA)
forecast that global airlines are expected to lose nearly RM17 billion (US$4.7
billion) this year due to the gloomy economic conditions.

"There is a downward sentiment in terms of international trade and business
across Asia. We believe airlines across Asia need to be looking at capacity
reduction quite quickly and address the issue of overcapacity," said Kaul.

-- BERNAMA