Carriers Assess Intra-Asian Pacts

<B> Carriers Assess Intra-Asian Pacts</B>

<I>Sydney</I> - The reluctance of Asian carriers to forge alliances with their neighbors--understandable in the context of the region's current evolutionary stage--now may be under review, given the current economic climate.

"There are certainly win-win benefits to be reaped in alliances," said Peter Harbison, managing director, Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation. "However more probable in the immediate future is a rapid growth at the more pragmatic level of ad hoc code share."

Harbison explained that code sharing generates some of the benefits of partnerships without the more expensive commitment of full-fledged "alliances in terms of management time and bottom line cost."

More important on a regional level, "It offers a quick platform to rational services without necessarily reducing market presence," he said.

At the same time, the international aid packages being offered to Asian countries will be accompanied by extensive advice about the need to liberalize the region's aviation systems to stimulate growth.

Thailand, for example, already is under pressure from the industry to liberalize its skies. The country's Department of Aviation policy, which repeatedly has denied foreign carriers additional route access, has been questioned and scrutinized even more closely as arrivals are badly needed to boost the local economy.