Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

EXPRESS AIR CARGO IN THE PACIFIC RIM: EVALUATION OF PROSPECTIVE HUB SITES

1994; SAGE Publishing; Issue: 1461 Linguagem: Inglês

2169-4052

Joseph P Schwieterman,

Air Traffic Management and Optimization

The rapid growth of the air cargo market is paving the way for the development of a major express airline hub in the Asia-Pacific region. Potential hub sites are evaluated using five criteria: capacity, location, local market size, terminal services, and route authority. The results illustrate that a South China hub would have immense locational advantages, saving an express carrier as much as $10 million annually in fuel cost. Of the eight sites evaluated, a hub in Hong Kong could serve the Pacific Rim with the fewest flight hours of service, whereas a hub in Taipei, Taiwan, could serve the region with the fewest tonne kilometers of service. Hong Kong also has the most lucrative local market, which minimizes the need for cargo transfers between flights and could save a hub operator $7 million annually in terminal costs. Airports in South China, however, currently cannot satisfy all the criteria for hub development. Terminal services remain particularly inadequate. Almost by default, Manila has emerged as the front-runner for the Pacific Rim hub--a development that could markedly affect airlines' operating efficiency and patterns of Asian trade.