Airports update Asia

AIR Cargo News reports on the latest movements at airports in Asia.

Following the assassination of Osama bin Laden, India’s Bureau of Civil Aviation Security has sounded a general alert for reprisals from extreme followers. The Bureau has urged the tightening of all entry points to airports and a thorough screening of passengers and cargo movements.

Cargo at Chennai is still piling up, this time due to administrative issues. A previous software glitch meant delays in cargo clearance. Now administrative chaos has brought the complete operations to a standstill. Consignments of over 600 tonnes are waiting to reach clearance. Customs house agents and clearing clerks say that mismanagement by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and lack of manpower at the AAI-assigned private agency Bhadra International have led to a huge loss to business. The clearing clerks have decided to withdraw their services inside the complex.

Pune International Airport’s (India) domestic cargo operations recorded a 54.12 per cent increase from 17,845 tonnes in 2009-10 to 27,505 tonnes in 2010-11.

Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport has posted a 13 per cent increase in cargo to 44 million tonnes from April 2010 to March 2011 despite infrastructure bottlenecks and strikes.

In China, Macau International Airport processed 8,520 tonnes of freight in the first three months of 2011, a drop of 36 per cent compared to the 2010 period.

Air cargo volumes through Hong Kong (China) in April totalled 225,791 tonnes. This equates to a slide of 9.3 per cent from a year earlier. Cargo exports and imports from the city in the month decreased 11.6 per cent and 6.4 per cent respectively from a year earlier. Because of the disasters in Japan, imports from the country in April showed a year-on-year decrease of 28.1 per cent.

Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is set to become a major transportation hub – the Taoyuan Aerotropolis – for east Asia through a NT$300 billion (US$10.3 billion) project to expand The plan will see the airport’s cargo traffic double to 4.48 million tons.

Keeping on the construction theme, in the Philippines the transport department is opening a new modern international airport in Mindanao in January 2012. The development will put in place a new major trunk-line airport that will satisfy the region’s current air transport requirements for both passengers and cargo and the expected surge in demand once it becomes operational.

March saw one of the busiest months for cargo at Changi (Singapore) as airfreight movements increased 5.6 per cent to 166,100 tonnes. For this quarter airfreight movements increased 2.9 per cent to 441,400 tonnes of cargo compared to last year.

In Vietnam the Long Thanh International Airport project in Dong Nai Province has been approved by the prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung. The airport will be built in three phases, with construction set to begin in 2015.