LTB Reports : Set Up Regional Joint Aviation Authority To Harmonise Standards

By Farhana Poniman and Zarul Effendi Razali | Source: Bernama

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 (Bernama) — The ASEAN Business Club (ABC) and CIMB ASEAN Research Institute (CARI) call for the setting up of a regional joint aviation authority (JAA)-type body to drive harmonisation of standards.

The recommendation was one of the 10 made by ABC and CARI in its Lifting-The-Barriers (LTB) Reports 2015 for the aviation sector, launched by International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed here today and witnessed by ABC President Tan Sri Dr Mohd Munir Abdul Majid.

AirAsia Chief Executive Officer Aireen Omar, who was also present today, said the set of recommendations was a good start in developing the ASEAN Single Aviation Market.

“The report is a good study to share with ASEAN governments on what needs to be done to shape the regional aviation market and allow it to grow in the manner of how you see it in the European Union and the United States.

“To optimise the open skies policy, which will hopefully happen soon, we need the ASEAN Single Aviation Market,” she told Bernama on the sidelines of the event.

Among other notable recommendations by the report was to initiate a high-level industry meeting among ASEAN airline chiefs with International Air Transport Association (IATA) to identify airlines’ needs by way of technical integration that would benefit all of them.

According to the LTB Reports, the ASEAN Single Aviation Market was unlikely to be fully achieved in time to meet the 2015 deadline as much remained to be done for the economic and market integration of the sector, while the work on technical and regulatory integration was still at its early stages.

The report noted that there was a possibility for the ASEAN Single Aviation Market to be extended, or to have a second stage declared for the post-2015 period to tackle both unfinished and new goals.

Besides air transportation, the Reports also highlighted recommendations in the financial services and capital markets, tourism, healthcare, retail and infrastructure.