Capacity building vital for a hub: CANSO Director General Jeff Poole

Monday, 12 May 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By David Ebert The annual conference of the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) was held in Colombo from 5 to 7 May at the Cinnamon Grand. With delegates from 28 countries present to discuss this year’s theme – ‘Enabling Safe and Sustainable Growth in the Asia Pacific’ – the conference was hosted by the Airport and Aviation Services Ltd.

Following the conference, the delegates were taken on a special tour of the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) – the country’s second international airport, which forms the centrepiece of the Government’s vision of transforming the Hambantota District into the country’s new aviation and logistics hub.

Progressive moves by State While consolidating best practices through collaboration and cooperation were the key drivers of the conference, CANSO Director General Jeff Poole acknowledged and endorsed the progressive moves by the State to develop the country’s aviation and tourism sectors. The visit to MRIA gave the delegates the opportunity to see first-hand the development drive in the country’s south, especially in terms of the new facilities available at MRIA such as its MRO facilities, etc. The airport has been designed to offer ground handling and engineering facilities for all types of aircraft including the Airbus A380, the largest passenger airplane in use. These upgraded facilities, coupled with the airport’s close proximity to some of the country’s southern and eastern tourist hotspots, is expected to contribute towards the Government’s target of attracting 2.5 million tourists by 2016 and developing Sri Lanka as a regional air transport hub.

Hub push Offering his thoughts on the country’s push to become a hub, CANSO Director General Poole, during the conference, said: “To promote tourism and build a hub, it is vital to allow aviation to grow. A hub is built on good connectivity and airport infrastructure expansion is essential to achieve this. Similarly, air traffic management infrastructure plays its role in the growth of the aviation industry. Ensuring safety, efficiency and environmental balance is important in its development. The proactive approach of the Government in recognising the benefits of the aviation industry, which are among its key areas of development, are very encouraging.” In this context, he added that the MRIA is the most important infrastructure development in these plans, adding capacity to the country’s airport infrastructure and ensuring improved safety measures by way of an alternate runway. The conference in Colombo focused mainly on best practices in a number of areas. Poole described the sessions as a learning process where knowledge was shared on safety, operational, management and regulatory matters. Seamless space Speaking about the Asia Pacific Region, Poole added that the organisation’s target was to make it a seamless space. Areas of focus at the conference in moving towards this seamlessness were the need to be harmonised, the flexible use of airspace, traffic flows across the region, and the constant collaboration and cooperation as neighbours in airspace. In addition, he revealed that air transport has contributed huge economic and social benefits for the largest and most dynamic region – Asia Pacific. Over 24 million jobs and $ 470 billion in GDP are supported by aviation in the region with passenger numbers set to triple by 2030.

MRIA’s strategic significance Commenting on MRIA and its strategic significance, Airport and Aviation Services Chairman Prasanna Wickramasuriya told the Daily FT that with the MRIA being located along international flight paths from East to West, one of the busiest, the airport stands ready to take advantage of this and offer a host of improved services to all international airlines plying the route. “The vision of President Mahinda Rajapaksa is a very far-thinking one. At the moment, we face a lot of criticism with regard to the MRIA, but what people must understand is that the airport has only been operational for just over a year and I am confident that it will become one of the busiest airports in the region in the future.” He added that the construction of the Mattala Airport was a hallmark in the aviation industry and an important step towards achieving the target of becoming an aviation hub, pointing out that AASL has plans to increase the number of flights, with the airport having already handled almost 2,000 air movements to date. He added that with airline schedules being planned two years ahead, a major increase cannot be expected overnight. Currently, MRIA handles only SriLankan Airlines, Mihin Air, Fly Dubai and Dubai-based Rotana Jet flights.