MUSCAT: The e-gates and digitalisation of air travel are the way forward as they ensure comfortable travel for passengers but also help airports that face space constraints for expansion.
Speaking to the Observer in an interview, Willie Walsh, Director-General of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said, "It is the way forward for us because what we recognise is that given the constraints at airports and there hasn't been much airport expansion in many parts of the world. We're seeing airport terminals getting busier and busier, and anything that can speed up the processing of the customer through the airport has to be seen as a positive. This contactless travel that we talk about is a fantastic development from a passenger point of view. It's just so much easier than, you know, having to queue up, find your passport, scan it, or hand it to somebody to be scanned."
He added, "Anything that can be done through the use of biometrics and contactless travel is positive and it's a big initiative that we have here in IATA. And it's great to see, you know, airports and governments supporting this and promoting it because they can see the advantage of it. It's they continue to collect the data, but they collect it in a much more efficient way. It takes a lot of pressure off the limited, uh, resource in terms of space that many airports have given the growth that we've seen and the projected growth for the industry, which shows no signs of abating. So the more that we can see in terms of e-gates and contactless travel, I think the better for everybody."
On the impact of the conflicts in the Middle East air travel, he said, What's happened in Lebanon has had a big impact on me and their operations. and everybody would like to see peace in the region and peace that can be sustained on a long-term basis. I don't think it's in anybody's interest that conflict continues. So we will monitor the situation closely, but I think it's too early for us to call what will happen in Syria. I think that's something that we'll need to monitor."
The situation in what's happening is impacting on the region but it has been a surprise that it's not impacted every part of the region. It seems to be localised to carriers in and around that area, and it's impacted, particularly tourism, in the region. However, the Middle East and GCC hubs don't appear to be impacted by it and continue to grow in terms of their traffic because of the strong leisure markets.
Another issue is that smaller airlines are struggling to get access to even leased aircraft because the lessors have the choice as to where they place those aircraft. They're likely to favor providing leased aircraft to a more financially robust carrier. It always is the case that you get greater economies of scale, particularly around aircraft purchases, engine purchases and spare parts purchases.
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