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IATA warns of infrastructure crisis in next 20 years
IATA is warning of an infrastructure crisis as it forecast a near doubling in demand for air travel over the next two decades.
It said latest passenger forecast suggest around 7.2 billion air trips will take place in 2035, compared to 3.8 billion in 2016.
IATA director general and CEO Alexandre de Juniac said the industry body was gearing up for future growth, but warned of rising congestion, particularly in Europe.
He said even fast growing areas, including the Gulf region and China, face airspace capacity issues.
“I fear that we may be headed for an infrastructure crisis that will impact air travellers,” he said.
“Inadequate infrastructure negatively impacts the passenger experience in the form of flight delays, longer routes and inefficient schedules. Then there is the cost to economies of lost business opportunities, employment and social development.”
Speaking at the World Passenger Symposium in Dubai, the IATA chief outlined the industry’s vision that will allow it to cope with the growth in air traffic.
IATA’s focus would be on initiatives to make airport security checkpoints more efficient and less intrusive, including plans to allow passengers to assert their identity just once, eliminating repetitive ID checks at security, border control and the gate.
It would also continue to develop the New Distribution Capability (NDC), to allow airlines to replace the multiple rigid and paper-based booking and ticketing records by combining the contents into a single and flexible order record.
But de Juniac added: "No matter how much or how quickly we innovate our processes, there is no getting around the need to be both smart and quick in growing airport and airspace capacity.”
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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