Chinese air passenger traffic has grown at 16% annually since 1978, and China has become the 2^nd largest aviation market (behind the United States) since 2005. Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou (with Shenzhen) now all have annual passengers of 70 million each, placing them among the world’s busiest aviation cities. This rapid growth is driven largely by China’s integration into the regional and world economies as well as its GDP growth (about 10% per year since 1978). China’s international outbound travelers have increased much faster than both inbound travelers and domestic travelers, due to the rapid increase of the “for private purpose” tourists. Thanks in part to China’s growth, in 2009 and for the very first time, more passengers took flights in the Asia-Pacific region than in North America. IATA forecasted that the Asia-Pacific region will account for about half of the world air traffic by 2050, during which China plays a pivotal role in the region’s liberalization/integration and in the formation of inter-continental networks.

De invoering van handel in emissierechten

Airneth column
September 2011
By David Starkie

The last two decades have witnessed remarkable changes in European aviation, the consequence of a series of inter-related, largely symbiotic developments. These include: airline de-regulation; the use of information technology and the internet; new managerial approaches (product unbundling and differentiation) and the commercialisation of the airport industry. The developments were symbiotic not least because de-regulation encouraged competition and entrepreneurial activity, which in turn stimulated new technology and managerial innovation; substantial increases in productivity leading to a marked fall in the real cost of air travel across a hugely expanded network of services, has been the outcome.

Cooperation between the airlines has over the years produced the three global airline alliances. In between them, Star Alliance, Skyteam, and oneworld unite over fifty of the world’s biggest airlines, and carry about 60 percent of the global passenger traffic. Each of the three alliances originated from a partnership on the transatlantic market. Specifically, Star Alliance was started by Lufthansa and United Airlines. The core of Skyteam consisted of Air France and Delta Air Lines. Oneworld grew out of American Airlines – British Airways partnership.

The history of airline alliances includes episodes of failed partnerships and alliance consolidation. A ten year long partnership including Austrian Airlines, Sabena, and Swissair was dissolved in 2002 with bankruptcy of the latter carrier. Earlier, the three carriers’ transatlantic partnership with Delta fell apart. Following the merger of Air France and KLM, the two carriers also consolidated their alliances with Delta and Northwest, respectively, extending the Skyteam partnership. Interestingly, recent high-profile airline mergers have mostly occurred from within the global airline alliances (with the exception of Southwest Airlines – Airtran, where neither carrier has ever been a global alliance member).