Amidst globalisation,

aviation flourishes

By Sophie Foster Hildebrand

ASK any businessman, or woman, and they will agree that in an area as vast as the Pacific, transportation links are vital to the survival of trade and investment. But with the arrival of globalisation, and a cli mate where documents skip through coun tries instantly through the Internet, avia tion has flourished.

Earlier this year, Forum Island minis ters met and resolved to support increased liberalisation of air services.

“This will lower costs in the aviation industry and enhance prospects for the tourism industries and exporters dependent on air services,” a forum paper said. In line with Pacific economic reform objectives, island countries have accepted the princi ples of encouraging private sector develop ment and enhancing the competitiveness of national carriers. In many cases, national carriers are moving in this direction because of the need to stay ahead of the increased competition from other carriers in their regions. But in most cases, it is to encourage the development of another essential sector, tourism.

One carrier that is making progress towards this end is Air Caledonie International (ACI or Aircalin). In order to keep pace with the upward trend of tourism in New Caledonia, the company last month announced an ambitious development plan that, among other things, provides for new air links with Japan by the end of 1999.

The plan involves the acquisition of an Airbus A-330 by French metropolitan investors, under the tax exemption provi sions of the Pons Law.

The operations schedule includes two flights a week to Tokyo and Osaka (con necting with Air France flights to and from

Paris), as well as increased services to Sydney, Auckland and Papeete. Operation of the new Airbus will result in daily air links between Japan and New Caledonia, which, according to Aircalin’s projections, could bring the country’s total number of Japanese visitors to 54,000 a year.

Island countries have agreed to support liberalisation of air services and to use the existing bilateral air service agreement sys tem to introduce more flexibility for carri ers. In Fiji, this has resulted in the inclu sion of Ansett as one of the many carriers crossing the island territory. Ansett is also set to begin flights to Fiji from next month in conjunction with a new domestic carrier.

The “bilateral” system is being used to introduce more flexibility in code sharing, ownership, control and leasing of planes, pricing, charter access, routing and other features of the aviation administration.

All of this is designed to improve the meeting of air transport services needs of Forum member countries.

Fiji’s national carrier, Air Pacific, has taken flexibility literally. On October 20, the company rescheduled its operations to allow for a charter service from Nadi to Los Angeles non-stop. This charter carried thirty-five tonnes of garments destined for the US market. The cargo needed to be in Los Angeles during that particular week in order to not prejudice Fiji’s garment quota export for the year 1999. This is one exam ple of where an airline can contribute towards the development of the overall economy. Air Pacific has also taken steps towards increasing its presence on the mar ket. The company has taken control of a new aircraft to fly the new route out of Suva to Australia.

The company is in the midst of upgrad ing all its equipment and aircraft with a new fleet to take it into the next millenni um. Indeed, all the national carriers of

Forum Island countries are gearing them selves for increased competition and shar ing in future. According to the Forum paper, while the FICs would implement the liberalisation of air services “in their own time and manner, this is an appropriate approach for members to pursue now, with the objective of allowing the maximum flexibility for air carriers”.

The Island countries are also reviewing all FIC air service agreements and related instruments in order to update them. This should allow for the freeing of economic regulation of air services and will examine implications of moving towards a single aviation market in the Pacific.

With discussions of a Pacific Free Trade Area, the possibility of a Free Trade Area in aviation has been welcomed by many carriers and organisations.

This new flexibility should be good news for carriers such as Solomon Airlines and Air Nauru which service several coun tries throughout the region. Amongst other routes, Solomon Airlines flies the New Caledonia, Fiji, Honiara triangle, while one of Nauru’s routes crosses the airspace of Tuvalu, Fiji, and Micronesia.

With technological advancement, there is more opportunity for greater efficiency in airline operations, which has flow-on effects for island economies.

Technological developments have allowed for a policy where the Pacific Airspace of the Forum region can be managed co-oper atively, efficiently and safely as a unified airspace. For the island countries this is a significant development and means that the barriers for increased participation in glob alisation can be lifted.

With the Forum countries acting together, with compatible technology and agreements, the region has a greater chance of making the most of its airspace, national carrier development, and air traffic potential. ■