Asia tourist boom fuels airport binge

Singapore - Asian nations are rushing to build hundreds of new airports to cope with surging demand for air travel in the region. 

They face snaking queues at immigration, baggage carousels are overflowing and there are numerous expensive flight delays.

From China and India to the Philippines and Indonesia, the fast-growing middle classes are looking to spend their cash by spreading their wings, leading to a boom in the Asia-Pacific region's tourism sector.

Airlines have responded by setting up several new budget carriers and flying new routes, but many airports are unable to cope, forcing governments to either expand or simply build new airports.

Investment cost

Chris De Lavigne, a global vice president at business consultancy Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific, said: "Through the next 10 years, we see more than 350 new airports in the Asia-Pacific and the investment cost will be well over $100bn."

"China is building over 100 airports, India is building more than 60 and Indonesia will also have to follow suit with investments in its infrastructure," said De Lavigne, who closely tracks Asia's aviation industry.

Upgrades of existing airports could cost an additional $25bn, he said from his office in Jakarta.

International tourist arrivals in Asia-Pacific grew an annual 6% .0 percent to 248 million last year, the strongest of any region worldwide, according to the UN World Tourism Organisation.

To cope with this, construction is being ramped up.

Backward facilities

The Canada-based Airports Council International (ACI) said in a report that Indonesia plans to build 62 new airports in the next five years, in addition to its existing 237.

Soekarno-Hatta in Jakarta is improving capacity after handling 60 million passengers last year, nearly three times what it was designed for, ACI said.

There are also plans for a full replacement of Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport, one of Asia's most notorious for overcrowding and backward facilities.

Even Singapore's Changi, regarded by many as one of the world's best, is expanding, with a $1bn Terminal 4 opening in 2017 that will raise capacity to 82 million passengers from the current 54 million. Plans are already being made for a Terminal 5.