IATA: Sri Lanka needs to develop blueprint to support aviation
On 14 July 2023, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) strongly encouraged the South Asian nation of Sri Lanka to expand its aviation industry. Specifically, the organization requested that the island nation develop a blueprint to generate both economic growth and prosperity driven by commercial aviation.
The announcement was made by Philip Goh, the IATA's Regional Vice President for Asia-Pacific, at Aviation Day Sri Lanka, an event hosted by the organization in partnership with the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL). In his remarks, Goh indicated facilitating growth, safety, and sustainability as three key areas for the South Asian nation to consider.
Aviation maintains a critical role in 15 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Everything from trade and tourism to the creation of jobs and the alleviation of poverty relies upon a thriving commercial aviation industry.
In 2018, Sri Lanka's aviation sector accounted for over 700,000 jobs and contributed over $8 billion to the nation's GDP. By 2038, Goh believes this number can rise to over 1 million jobs and contribute nearly $30 billion in GDP.
A focus on sustainability
As is clear from his remarks, it is clear that the IATA sees sustainability as playing a critical role in the expansion of the nation's aviation industry. When discussing the important role of environmental issues, Goh had the following words to share:
“Sri Lanka’s aviation blueprint needs to facilitate the sustainable growth of the industry and having an updated airport masterplan is the first step. I urge the government to engage in a consultative approach involving airlines to ensure that industry input is factored in”
Clearly, Goh not only believes that ensuring sustainable development will play a role in the growth of Sri Lanka's aviation industry, but also that it will likely be the most critical factor in the transformation. However, in an industry that is so carbon-based, it can often be difficult to identify ways to ensure environmental-friendly growth. For this, Goh also passed along his ideas in his statement:
“Many of the country’s passenger and cargo processes continue to be paper based. As traffic grows, digitalization will be key to address capacity constraints, increase efficiency and improve the travel experience. IATA’s one ID and One Record initiatives can help support this.”
Unsurprisingly, Sri Lanka has announced that net-zero carbon from aviation will be one of the nation's goals by 2050. Goh would further go on to note that Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) will be a major factor in this objective's achievement.
The bottom line
Overall, Sri Lanka's aviation industry is thriving, and the IATA's urge only demonstrates even more potential for growth. Just two days ago, Indian carrier Alliance Air announced new ATR flights to Jaffna, following increased interest from the nation. Earlier this year, Air Seychelles also launched biweekly flights to the island nation using A320neo aircraft. Across the board, aviation in the South Asian nation can look forward to a bright future.
Source: Simple Flying https://simpleflying.com/iata-sri-lanka-develop-blueprint-support-aviation/
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