07-09 19 October 09:09-10 10 July 06 15/10/09 12:06 Page 1
Centre of excellence
Hong Kong International airport is a core element in the multimodal hub offering at one of the
world’s busiest cargo gateways. Driving the airport’s prominence in the air logistics business is its
prime location – backed up by a well-proven record of providing customer satisfaction
I
njustafewdaysshortofayear,theHang bothpassengersandcargotoacity“andifthey neededforanairlinetocomeintothisregion willbeworthitinsupportoftheoveralldevel-
SengIndex–HongKong’sbenchmark shouldgooutofbusinessthentheairportand andcapitaliseonthecargoopportunities,”he opmentweseeahead.”
indicator of economic health – had theregionbothlosealot”. observed.“Ourmajormarketistheworldfac- Heobserved:“Weareclosetowherethe
returned to the same level as it com- Here, Hui pointed to the reduction in toryofthePearlRiverDeltaregion,sogood cargois…ourhome-basedairlineshavebeen
manded before the crash of the New landingandparkingfeesthatAirportAuthority roadlinkswiththemainlandareessential,”and successful in attracting transhipment cargo
York-basedLehmanBrothersinvestmentbank HongKongintroducedinAprilto“easethe HongKonghasanextensivehighwaysystem throughHongKong–andthatiswhatahub
on 15 September last year, financialhurtbeingsufferedby thatisof“aworld-classstandard”. airportisallabout.
whichmanybelievewasoneof thecarriersinthecurrentfinan- Beatingoffcompetitionfromahostofsur- “Everyoneisfightingforalargershareofthe
thecriticalfactorstriggeringthe cialtsunami”.Thisincentiveis roundingairports,HKIAwillcontinuetoplay marketandwewillcontinuetoremaincompet-
economicavalancheintoglobal not“amakeorbreak”figurein abigrolenotonlyinthedevelopmentofHong itive.”Huiconcluded:“Intermsofinternational
recession. termsofanairline’stotaloper- KongbutalsothePearlRiverDeltaregion,Hui aircargo,HKIAhasbeentheworld’snumber
Butarecoveryinthestock atingcost,heagreed,butitwas argued.“Wehaveatremendousfutureaheadof onegatewayfor13yearsandIthinkwewill
marketstillleavesHongKong- “averyimportantpoliticalges- us,butitwillnotbeaneasyone.Thefinancial seethatsituationcontinueforalongtimeto
basedanalystsunsureastohow ture that we are part of the investmentthatwearemakingintheairport come.”
longitwillbeuntilthe‘real’ industry”andthattheairport
economyrecoversintermsof bearspartoftheresponsibility
theairfreightindustry. inthechain.“Itshowsthepart-
StanleyHui,CEOofAirport nershipandthespiritthatwe
Authority Hong Kong, says wanttopromote.”
thatduetotherecenthistoryof Hui knows that many air
highfuelpricesandthereduc- gatewayswouldfinditmuch
tionindemandbroughtabout
Hui – the airport’s primary
easiertomaximisetheirprofits
by the economic downturn,
role is to serve the economic
iftheydidnotinvestininfras-
bothairlinesandairportshave
needs of the community
tructure and just went on
been adversely affected and increasingtheirrates–butnot
“withtheirhugeinfrastructureandtheassoci- atHongKong.“Inthepastfewyearswehave
atedcoststhisisnotasituationthatyoucan investedHK$4.5billion(US$581million)in
turnaroundquickly”. our airport,”he said. “We have built extra
TheairgatewaytotheHongKongSpecial parkingbaysforfreightersandweareprepared
AdministrativeRegionandalsotothecommer- toinvestmoreinthefuturetoensurethereis
cialpowerhouseofthePearlRiverDeltaregion adequatecargohandlingcapacity…andthat
oftheChinamainlandis100percentownedby thechargesstayreasonableaswell.”
thegovernment,althoughHuipointedoutitis ThestatusofHongKongasacargogateway
run“atarm’slengthandwearegivenroomto isimportantanditscontributiontotheregional
manageourselvesprudently”. economyistremendous,Huiconsiders,sothe
TheprimaryroleofHongKongInterna- governmentandtheCustomsauthoritymake
tionalairport(HKIA)istoservetheeconomic surethattheflowofgoodsthroughtheairport
needsofthecommunity,henoted.Airlinesplay ishandledefficiently.
averycrucialroleintheprocessofbringing “Attheairportwehaveeverythingthat’s
Cathay: ‘gradual improvement’ but loads stay down
Septemberfiguresforthe
HongKong-basedcom-
binedCathayPacificand
Dragonairairlineshowthat
airfreighttookanotherhit
inwith133,301tonnesof
cargoandmailcarriedin
themonth,downby5.4
percentyear-on-year.
Theairfreightload
factorrose7.9percentage
pointsto74.4percent,but
availablecargo/mailtonne-kmwas14.1percentdown.FortheJanuary-September
period,tonnagefellby12.3percentagainstacapacityreductionof13.9percent.
GeneralmanagercargosalesandmarketingTitusDiunoted:“Thetrendofplum-
metingyields...hasstoppedasvolumeshavestrengthened.Wehaveexperienceda
gradualimprovementinbothvolumeandyield...However,itisstilltoosoontosay
whethertheseimprovementsarethebeginningofasustainedrecovery.”
19 October 2009 Page 7
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