Snoozing China air traffic controllers force jet to delay landing

A Chinese aircraft was forced to delay its landing after two air traffic controllers nodded off, reports said on Tuesday (Aug 19), sparking a wave of online anger about airline safety.

The Boeing 737 was preparing to land at Wuhan airport in central China but had no response from the air traffic control tower for 12 minutes, reports said. Contact was eventually made and China Eastern Airlines flight MU2528 from Sanya landed safely, the Sina.com news portal said.

"Because air traffic control was asleep on duty, (the plane) called many times," civil aviation authorities said in a statement quoted by Chinese business magazine Caijing. "But there was no reply, and no contact could be made with the control tower."

A separate investigation report cited by Caijing said two controllers had fallen asleep. The incident happened on July 8 and the statement was dated July 29. There was no explanation for the delay in making it public.

"Air control work is truly exhausting, but it is unforgivable to sleep on duty," a post on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter, said on Tuesday. "Hundreds of people's lives depend on the actions of flight tower controllers. We entrust our lives to you," the post continued.

Another netizen added: "Such serious consequences. Should let him sleep as much as he wants in prison."

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Asia tourist boom fuels airport binge

Faced with snaking queues at immigration, overflowing baggage carousels and expensive flight delays, Asian nations are rushing to build hundreds of new airports to cope with surging demand for air travel in the region.

From China and India to the Philippines and Indonesia, the fast-growing middle classes are looking to spend their cash by spreading their wings, leading to a boom in the Asia-Pacific region's tourism sector. Airlines have responded by setting up several new budget carriers and flying new routes -- but many airports are unable to cope, forcing governments to either expand or simply build new airports.

"Through the next 10 years, we see more than 350 new airports in the Asia-Pacific and the investment cost will be well over $100 billion," said Chris De Lavigne, a global vice president at business consultancy Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific.

"China is building over 100 airports, India is building over 60 airports and Indonesia will also have to follow suit with investments in its infrastructure," said De Lavigne, who closely tracks Asia's aviation industry.

Upgrades of existing airports could cost an additional $25 billion, he told AFP by telephone from his office in Jakarta. International tourist arrivals in Asia-Pacific grew an annual 6.0 per cent to 248 million last year, the strongest of any region worldwide, according to the UN World Tourism Organization. To cope with this, construction is being ramped up.

The Canada-based Airports Council International (ACI) said in a report that Indonesia plans to build 62 new airports in the next five years, in addition to its existing 237. Soekarno-Hatta in Jakarta is improving capacity after handling 60 million passengers last year, nearly three times what it was designed for, ACI said.

And Kuala Lumpur aims to double capacity to 100 million a year by 2020, while Hong Kong wants to handle 97 million annually by 2030, up from 60 million in 2013. In Beijing -- which already has a hub servicing 80 million people -- a second, $11 billion airport is being built to open in 2018 and handle 40 million passengers, Sydney-based consultancy Centre for Aviation said.

There are also plans for a full replacement of Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport, one of Asia's most notorious for overcrowding and backward facilities. Its Terminal 1, which is undergoing a major makeover, was built in 1981 to handle six million passengers a year. Together with two extension terminals, the airport handled around 30 million passengers in 2013.

Even Singapore's Changi -- regarded by many as one of the world's best -- is expanding, with a $1.0 billion Terminal 4 opening in 2017 that will raise capacity to 82 million passengers from the current 54 million. Plans are already being made for a Terminal 5.

Shukor Yusof, an analyst with Malaysia-based Endau Analytics, said airport infrastructure in many countries has lagged well behind travel growth.

"Many governments have paid scant attention to developing new terminals and new tarmacs, that's why you find that many of the airports are bursting at the seams," he said.

The focus is not just on capitals. The need for more space means much of the new construction is taking place in secondary cities, with some facilities potentially becoming hubs.

De Lavigne cited the Kualanamu International Airport in Indonesia's Medan, which opened last July and could become a hub for flights to Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, India and China. It was designed to handle eight million passengers a year but is already at capacity, he said.

"By 2025, they're forecasting 24 million passengers out of Medan, or a three-fold increase in just over 10 years," De Lavigne said, adding that Indonesia's aviation sector alone is growing 14-15 per cent a year.

Even less developed tourist destinations are pressing ahead with building. Myanmar -- returning to the global fold after decades of isolation -- is looking to upgrade 39 airports as tourist and domestic air passenger figures are seen surging to 30 million in 2030 from 4.2 million in 2013, the ACI said.

The government is also building a new $1.5 billion Hanthawaddy International Airport to serve as Yangon's second airport, it added.

Bangladesh is constructing a new airport costing up to $7.2 billion about 60 kilometres (37 miles) from Dhaka, ACI said. Funding from governments and the private sector does not appear to be a problem.

"There's a lot of liquidity out there. There's a lot of money in project financing," Shukor said.

Airports are now even targeting non-travellers, with the current trend for "aeroparks and aerotropolises" integrating lifestyle amenities, attracting diners and shoppers who won't even board flights.

"You get people who don't fly to come into the airports for food, shopping and other lifestyle activities. That trend which started in the West is increasingly finding its way into Asia," De Lavigne said.

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Airports gear up for increased air traffic with ASEAN Open Skies deal

Airlines and airports in the region are gearing up for increased air traffic when the ASEAN Open Skies agreement takes off next year.

While liberalisation could mean more competitive pressure on Singapore's status as an aviation hub, analysts said this will provide a boost to the country's maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) cluster.

ASEAN airlines are estimated to take delivery of 3,000 new commercial aircraft by 2032.

This represents a market of around S$630 billion for aircraft equipment manufacturers.

Analysts said the growth in fleet capacity is partly driven by the impending ASEAN Open Skies policy, as airlines position themselves for new routes and increased air traffic.

And this is expected to benefit Singapore's MRO cluster.

Singapore currently accounts for more than a quarter of MRO output in Asia Pacific.

Mr Rajiv Biswas, Asia-Pacific chief economist at IHS, said: "Tremendous momentum is continuing in Singapore, as a hub for the aerospace industry. We've seen the announcement of a number of new manufacturing facilities in Singapore, and also the MRO-related operations in Singapore is also going to be growing very rapidly, because of the growth of the airline industry in Asia Pacific."

Over the next 20 years, almost half of the world's air traffic will be driven by travel to, from, and within the Asia Pacific region.

This means the number of airplanes in the Asian Pacific fleet will nearly triple.

The liberalisation of the aviation market will mean keener competition among regional airlines, in particular low-cost carriers such as Lion Air, Tigerair and AirAsia.

For consumers, this could translate to lower prices.

Analysts said it could also generate greater competition among Southeast Asian airports.

Mr Chris De Lavigne, Global Vice President of Industrial Practice at Frost & Sullivan, said: "Airports in the region have to build facilities, or upgrade their current facilities, to become world-class airports, to ensure a seamless and enjoyable experience for the passengers. So there's no doubt that capacity has got to be there, and secondly, these facilities have to be top-notch to ensure that they attract the passengers to go through them."

While governments, airport operators and airlines gear up for Open Skies - there remains divisions over some issues.

Indonesia, which accounts for almost half the population in ASEAN, appears resistant to fully opening its markets.

Some analysts say the single aviation market is unlikely to be realised in substance by 2015.

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Changi Airport handled record 53.7 million passengers in 2013

Singapore Changi Airport handled a record 53.7 million passengers, and some 344, 000 landings and take-offs in 2013.

Cargo volumes, however, remained stable at 1.85 million tonnes. This is a 0.8 per cent increase from the previous year.

This year, Changi Airport Group is forecasting a five per cent increase in passenger traffic.

Passenger and aircraft traffic at Changi Airport reached record highs last year. Passenger movement was up five per cent from the year before while landings and take-offs rose by 5.9 per cent, supported by strong growth in key markets like China and India.

In the last 12 months, Changi Airport Group acquired eight new Chinese city links, making Changi the most connected South East Asian Airport to China with 31 city links.

The airport's busiest routes were to Jakarta, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Manila.

Indonesia continues to be Changi's top country market, with more than 7.4 million passengers passing through during the year, an 8.8 per cent increase.

And the group is working towards expanding connections in the region to boost passenger traffic.

Lim Ching Kiat, senior vice president of market development at Changi Airport Group, said: "We're actively working with airlines to see how to establish new routes to grow, as well as working with airlines to see how to grow more transfer traffic in Changi.

"The key markets that were strong this year, Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia, will continue to be our engines of growth and we continue to see strong growth in these two areas in the coming year."

Traffic to Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia, which accounts for close to 70 per cent of Changi Airport's total, rose 8.2 per cent and 7.0 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, the group aims to improve runway capacity by up to 40 per cent over the coming years In the run-up to the airport's third runway to be opened in 2020.

Mr Lim said: "Changi Airport is working quite closely with the air traffic controllers and with the airlines to see how we can get more capacity and efficiency from the current runway operations. For example by improve the separation between flights and reducing aircraft occupancy time on the runway."

Outlook for cargo continues to be soft, as airlines face the pressure of declining yields.

To help ease costs, Changi Airport Group will offer landing fee rebates and incentives amounting to S$18 million for its next financial year ending 31 March 2015.

The group will also be focusing on certain niche markets like perishables and express cargo.

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More passengers, aircraft movements & cargo at Changi Airport in Nov

More passengers, aircraft and airfreight cargo were handled at Singapore Changi Airport in the month of November.

Changi Airport Group (CAG) said the airport handled 4.46 million passenger movements in November 2013, an increase of 2.3 per cent over the same month last year.

CAG said in the first eleven months of the year, more than 48.6 million passenger movements were registered, a 5.1 per cent increase on-year.

Air traffic movements for November grew 6.9 per cent to 29,500 flights.

For the first eleven months of the year, aircraft movements totalled 312,800, an increase of 5.8 per cent compared to a year ago.

CAG said travel demand was strongest for Indonesia, Japan and Malaysia in November.

Traffic to and from Denpasar, Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo rose by more than 10 per cent over the corresponding period last year.

Changi Airport also handled more cargo compared to a year ago.

From January and November, Changi Airport handled 1.7 million tonnes of cargo, an increase of 0.9 per cent compared to the same period in 2012.

Airfreight movements registered a 2.4 per cent growth on-year, with a total of 161,000 tonnes of cargo handled during November. 

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Flight chaos in Britain after air traffic control glitch

A "technical problem" in Britain's air traffic control system sparked hundreds of flight cancellations on Saturday, leaving thousands of angry passengers stranded.

Britain's National Air Traffic Service (NATS) said the glitch, which hit major airports including London's Heathrow, was caused by a faulty switch between its night-time and daytime operating systems at its control centre in Swanwick, southern England.

The error caused delays and cancellations for 11 hours at airports from Dublin to Glasgow, before NATS finally announced that the problem had been fixed.

"Operations are returning to normal," a spokesman for the agency, which is part-owned by the government and a group of airlines, said at 1930 GMT.

"We sincerely regret inconvenience to our airline customers and their passengers."

He added that the agency's communications system, used to contact air traffic control agencies across Europe, was "very complex" and the biggest of its kind on the continent.

Heathrow, one of the world's busiest airports, was the worst-hit by the glitch, suffering 228 cancellations - 15 percent of the day's flights.

Long queues snaked through airports as frustrated passengers lined up to rebook their flights, with some complaining that they had to wait up to five hours to speak to airline representatives.

NATS said it handled approximately 300 fewer flights than normal, operating at around 88 percent of capacity.

But Eurocontrol, the European organisation for air navigation safety, said around 1,300 flights had been "severely delayed".

Many passengers took to Twitter to vent their frustration, with British Paralympic sailor Helena Lucas posting on her page: "Lots of angry people at Heathrow! Customer services is crowded with unhappy people!"

Irish budget airline Ryanair, which had 100 flights affected by the glitch, called for Britain's Civil Aviation Authority to take action to prevent a repeat of the problem.

"While we acknowledge problems can occur, where is the contingency? It's simply not good enough and the CAA needs to act now," the airline said.

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Air-passenger traffic up 5.5% in September: IATA

Businesses are spending more on travel and this has helped global air-passenger traffic rise by 5.5 per cent in September from the equivalent figure last year, the International Air Transport Association said on Thursday.

"We are seeing a more positive environment for air travel demand, based on rising business confidence," IATA chief Tony Tyler said.

Rising export orders and improvements in key emerging markets such as China had also contributed to the improvement, he said in a statement.

Despite the continuing strong demand, September nonetheless marked a slight slowdown from August, when global airline traffic grew by 6.8 per cent, enabling the industry to match an all-time record of 83.4 per cent of seats filled.

Last month, in comparison, the load factor stood at a respectable, but far from record-breaking, 80.3 per cent, basically unchanged from September 2012.

Tyler remained optimistic.

"The strong growth of recent months, coupled with the continuing improvements in air travel demand in September, suggests that there could be a further acceleration in air travel growth before the end of the year," he said.

Traffic on international routes was up 5.7 per cent in September, with Middle East carriers showing the strongest year-on-year traffic growth of 10.4 per cent.

Asia-Pacific carriers meanwhile registered 8.5 per cent growth, IATA said, adding that improvements in the Chinese and Japanese economy in the third quarter appeared to have helped ease the downward pressure on growth seen in recent months.

Modest economic improvements also helped boost airline travel in Europe by 3.4 per cent, while North American airlines saw demand rise 2.3 per cent, after registering 5.1 per cent growth in August.

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