Developments in the Aviation Industry in Australia and Asia - Implications for Australian Tourism

Abstract

The Asia-Pacific region is expected to be the main region of growth in airline travel for at least the next two decades. According to the forecasts, China will become one of the largest domestic airline markets in the world alongside Japan, already one of the most significant domestic markets outside the USA. The inability of government-owned airlines in the region to cope with rapid growth and with the need to upgrade their services in domestic markets has resulted in major changes in policy. As a result, new airlines have been permitted to operate in South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Nepal and Pakistan with governments adopting a more liberal attitude towards competition. A common experience has been that the new airlines cannot survive on a domestic base and a number of countries have allowed the new carriers to fly international routes. These new airlines are more likely to fly between regional centres and so take away some of the pressures on the key hub airports that tend to be congested. Also, they provide direct links to tourist attractions away from the main metropolitan centres in Australia. This paper analyses these trends in aviation in the Asian region and explores their implications for the continuing development of Asian markets by Australian airlines and the tourism sector.