Update from Singapore Aviation Leadership Summit 2014
Nowhere in the world has air transport contributed to the recent development of tourism than in Asia. The rapid air traffic growth for the region is being fuelled by national economic growth and the increasing accessibility of air transport services.
Almasalla Arab Travel Portal News – Aviation is a vital driver of economic growth and connectivity, supporting 57 million jobs worldwide and US$2.2 trillion of economic activity, equivalent to 3.5% of global GDP. The Singapore Aviation Leadership Summit on February 10 gathered global leaders from the government, industry and NGO to address common issues and discuss new ways of thinking for stronger collaboration and partnership.
Singapore Minister of Transport Lui Tuck Yew said he would continue to promote a liberal air services policy to encourage airlines to fly to and through Singapore as an air hub.
The main points from the conference were:
· Smart regulation is needed to facilitate the industry’s development access to markets, customer service levels and airlines’ business practices.
· Investing in infrastructure such as airports must have enough capacity to accommodate long-term growth.
· Increasing wealth and more sophisticated travel demand creates growing global connectivity to new destinations and new markets that lead to new partnerships. Therefore, a new framework is required to align with the growth.
· Any taxation introduced by the government is a detention tax and will only bring more harm to the industry.
