TIACA has released its opinion on current trends in the air freight sector and what the future holds.
K. S. Lee stated: “It seems that the New Year has just begun in 2018, and half of January has already passed. Incheon International Airport has finished its 8-year Terminal 2 construction and had its Terminal 2 Grand Opening ceremony on January 12 and on January 18 officially began operating Terminal 2. Terminal 2 is an independent terminal where all procedures for check-in, security check, customs inspection, etc. are carried out separately from Terminal 1.
With the opening of the new terminal, Incheon Airport will be able to handle 72 million passengers and 5 million tons of cargo per year, making it one step closer to achieving the dream of becoming ‘Asia’s leading hub airport’.
We are also planning additional terminal expansion by 2023, preparing for another leap forward. In 2017, Incheon Airport recorded the highest growth rate (7.6%) since 2010 for air cargo, with a record high of 2.92 million tons. The recovery in the global economy and brisk exports of core industries such as semiconductors seem to be a combination of positive external conditions and efforts to diversify air cargo items.
Expansion of logistics complex, development of express carrier customized terminal, construction of new growth cargo infrastructure, and providing incentives are main factors for growth. As discussed in the 2017 TIACA ES held in Miami in October last year, it is expected that countries will try to ease the trade barriers in order to increase the volume of air cargo in preparation for the boom of e-commerce.
High taxes and government deregulation will be key. As we all know, the global e-commerce market is changing from B2B to B2C. It has brought about a major change in the level of rebuilding and breaking traditional international trade practices. I think there should be various discussions to be able to cope with changes in the aviation consumer at the current transitional stage in which the boundary between distribution and logistics collapses is optimized to suit the B2C transaction environment.
How effectively we respond to and actively participate in innovative change will lead to opportunities in global trade and business environments. To help increase the world’s air cargo volume, we hope that our industry members try to continue to improve the air cargo process, system improvement and continue to collaborate with key stakeholders such as TIACA to achieve global standardization.
