Peter Harbison, the much respected Managing Director of the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) has called on the governments of North Asia to embrace deregulation, or see the low cost airline revolution pass them

by.
Speaking at the opening of the Low Cost Airline Symposium in Kitakyushu, Japan, Harbison said that economic development in regional centres ‘accelerate rapidly’ with low cost airline entry, with the opening up of new routes and increased services to smaller destinations. He called on regional governments to adopt a proactive role in encouraging low cost airline development by easing restrictions on market access and establishing more conducive environments for growth.
‘Many regional centres are under-served, and there is exceptional city pair concentration on hub cities,’ he said. ‘Add to that the extremely high GDP per capita across the region, and there exists the perfect recipe for low cost airline development.
‘First though, concerted efforts have to be made by governments to overcome the existing barriers to entry. Various issues need to be addressed, not least restrictions on access to international routes and the high cost regimes operating, particularly in Japan and Korea.’