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E/CN.17/1996/20/Add.5 |
Economic and Social Council
Distr. GENERAL
29 February 1996
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Fourth session
18 April-3 May 1996
PROGRESS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROGRAMME OF
ACTION FOR THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL
ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES
Report of the Secretary-General
Addendum
Sustainable development of air transport in
small island developing States
CONTENTS
Paragraphs Page
INTRODUCTION ............................................... 1 - 2 2
I. WORLD-WIDE DEVELOPMENTS OF RELEVANCE TO SMALL ISLAND
DEVELOPING STATES .................................... 3 - 8 2
II. CARIBBEAN SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES ............. 9 - 14 3
III. PACIFIC SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES ............... 15 - 17 5
IV. AFRICAN SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES ............... 18 - 20 6
V. OTHER SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES ................. 21 - 22 6
VI. SPECIFIC ASPECTS OF AIR TRANSPORT .................... 23 - 27 7
VII. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION ........................... 28 - 35 8
INTRODUCTION
1. The Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island
Developing States, in chapter XII, groups air transport together with other
transport modes (primarily shipping) and with communications. In so far as
they relate to air transport, the sections relating to action at the national,
regional and international levels call for:
(a) Continued efforts to strengthen transport services and facilities at
both the national and local levels, with particular attention to environmental
protection, safety and innovative energy-efficient and low-cost transport
solutions;
(b) Fostering increased cooperation at the regional level, including
exploring possibilities for the consolidation of national airline services;
(c) Improving access to financial and technical resources in support of
regional organizations that are coordinating and advising small island
developing States in the field of transport;
(d) Promoting research and development in transportation relevant to the
sustainable development of small island developing States;
(e) Actions aimed at addressing quarantine problems at the national,
regional and international levels. 1/
2. The main developments that have taken place since the Barbados Conference
relate to subparagraphs 1 (a) and (b) above.
I. WORLD-WIDE DEVELOPMENTS OF RELEVANCE TO
SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES
3. Air transport continues to grow more rapidly than the world economy as a
whole. In 1994, the total scheduled traffic carried by the world's airlines
increased by 9 per cent over 1993 and preliminary estimates for 1995 indicate
a further 7 per cent increase over 1994. This compares with an average annual
growth rate of 5.5 per cent over the 10 years between 1984 and 1994. 2/
4. International air services are generally subject to economic regulation
through intergovernmental agreements and arrangements, usually on a bilateral
basis. These often regulate such aspects as the routes to be operated, the
designation of airlines to operate routes, the amount of capacity that
airlines may offer, and the tariffs to be charged to passengers and shippers.
In recent years, some States, notably in North America and Europe, have been
taking a more "hands-off" approach to economic regulation, giving airlines
more freedom to exercise commercial judgement and creating conditions
conducive to increased competition. In late 1994, the International Civil
Aviation Organization (ICAO) held a world-wide air transport conference, at
which States exchanged views on the future regulation of air transport.
Although some States favoured increased liberalization, many small island
developing States were concerned that increased competition would adversely
affect their national airlines as well as the availability of adequate,
regular international air transport. In the absence of agreement on a common
approach, the conference recognized that each State would determine its own
path and pace of change in international air transport regulation, on the
basis of equality of opportunity and using bilateral, subregional and/or
global avenues according to circumstances. The conference also recognized
that liberalized arrangements at the subregional or regional level provide
valuable experience as regards the content, process and structure of
regulatory change.
5. As a result of increased costs and competition, structural changes are
taking place in the air transport industry. These include the privatization
of many government-owned airlines, the formation of commercial alliances
between airlines and various forms of inter-airline cooperation.
6. Many developments in international air transport will inevitably affect
small island developing States. For, example, with international airlines
being encouraged to use their own commercial judgement, their services to and
from small island developing States will become increasingly based on
unpredictable and rapidly changing market forces rather than on more constant
public service considerations. Governments of small island developing States
may face the difficult task of weighing the need to protect or subsidize their
national airlines against the need to allow greater market access for
competing airlines to achieve other national objectives such as the
development of tourism. In addition, the airlines of small island developing
States will have difficult decisions to make on the extent to which they
should cooperate with one another and with the major international airlines,
bearing in mind that these airlines may also be their competitors.
7. Various technological changes are also taking place in air transport,
such as the introduction of the ICAO satellite-based communications,
navigation, surveillance/air traffic management (CNS/ATM) systems and of new
developments in aeronautical meteorology, including the World Area Forecast
System (WAFS) satellite broadcasts. Like other States, small island
developing States will need to adapt to these various technological changes.
8. Against this background, the following sections summarize the present air
transport situation for small island developing States, including significant
developments since the Barbados Conference. Since, in air transport terms,
many small island developing States have common characteristics, four
groupings of those States are considered separately, namely, those in the
Caribbean, the Pacific and Africa and others.
II. CARIBBEAN SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES
9. In view of the economic importance of tourism, there is a particular need
for air services to the main tourist-generating markets, notably in North
America. In practice, most small island developing States have frequent
non-stop services from several points in North America or, failing that,
non-stop or "island-hopping" services to hub airports, both inside the region
(such as Antigua and Barbuda) and outside it (such as Miami), where onward
connections can be made. Some Caribbean small island developing States also
have services to Europe and South America. With inter-island distances
relatively short, most Caribbean small island developing States have services
to neighbouring islands.
10. Several Caribbean small island developing States (including Aruba, the
Bahamas, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, the Netherlands
Antilles and Trinidad and Tobago) have their own scheduled airlines, while
most of the small island developing States in the eastern Caribbean are
co-owners of a regional airline - Leeward Islands Air Transport (LIAT).
Financial information is available for about one half of these scheduled
airlines, and in most cases their recent operations have not been profitable.
In addition, there are a number of small operators undertaking non-scheduled
operations within the region. Caribbean small island developing States are
also served by North American, European and other airlines.
11. Since the Barbados Conference, there have been a number of significant
air transport developments affecting Caribbean small island developing States,
at both the government and the airline levels.
12. Heads of State and Government and representatives of the States,
countries and territories of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), at
their inaugural summit in August 1995, adopted a Declaration of Principles and
Plan of Action on Tourism, Trade and Transportation. Concerning
transportation, they stressed the importance of the principles of easy access
and equal opportunity to affordable air (and maritime) transportation as
indispensable factors in the economic integration of the ACS region. In this
regard, the ultimate goal was articulated to be the provision of a
sustainable, efficient, profitable, readily differentiated and significantly
higher quality service to the travelling and cargo shipping communities at
reasonable rates. More specifically, with regard to air transportation, they
agreed to examine the existing regulatory and operational framework within the
ACS region; evaluate the scope for negotiating air services agreements on a
group basis; take steps to improve facilitation at airports; consider
simplification of visa requirements; and encourage increased cooperation among
ACS airlines.
13. In addition, many of the English-speaking Caribbean States have been
drafting a multilateral agreement concerning the operation of air services
within the Caribbean Community. It is anticipated that this will be finalized
in 1996, creating an air transport regulatory framework that would provide for
a more liberal and transparent exchange of commercial route rights.
14. Significant developments at the airline level include:
(a) The privatization of Air Jamaica, BWIA (Trinidad and Tobago) and
LIAT, with their respective Governments retaining shareholdings, and the
announcement of a commercial alliance between LIAT and BWIA (now the largest
investor in LIAT);
(b) The creation of a new airline, Carib Express, whose owners include
British Airways and the Governments of Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Saint
Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, commencing inter-island operations
in February 1995;
(c) The take-over of Trans-Jamaican Airlines by Air Jamaica;
(d) The creation of commercial alliances and of new code-sharing
agreements between some other pairs of airlines.
III. PACIFIC SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES
15. Most Pacific small island developing States have air services to some
neighbouring island countries, many of which are also small island developing
States. Many also have direct services (non-stop or stopping) to Australia
and/or New Zealand, which are important tourist-generating markets, and a few
have services to Honolulu or points on the United States west coast, or to
points in Asia. However, in most cases, the service frequencies (number of
flights per week) on international routes are low. Domestic air services have
also been developed by many of the Pacific small island developing States,
particularly those with many inhabited islands or with communities that are
not easily accessible by road (e.g., Papua New Guinea).
16. Most Pacific small island developing States have their own airlines, but
some do not. These national carriers are mostly government-owned and, in the
case of the Fiji-based Air Pacific, Governments of some other small island
developing States have minority shareholdings. Financial information is
available for about half of these airlines, and in most cases their recent
operations have not been profitable, an exception being Air Pacific in 1994.
For various reasons, including the introduction of longer-range aircraft,
major international airlines have progressively withdrawn from serving Pacific
small island developing States, with the result that they now only serve a few
of them, the most active international carrier being Air New Zealand.
17. Since the Barbados Conference, some consideration has been given to the
transportation problems facing Pacific small island developing States by the
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), although no
specific air transport proposals have yet emerged. At the airline level,
significant air transport developments affecting Pacific small island
developing States include:
(a) Expansion of services by Air Pacific, including the introduction of
services to North America in 1994 and new services to Asian destinations under
consideration;
(b) The planned creation of a new airline in Palau;
(c) Increased commercial links between the Australian airline Qantas and
some of the national airlines, including an increased shareholding in Air
Pacific;
(d) The announcement in February 1995 of a wide-ranging commercial
alliance between Air New Zealand and Polynesian Airlines, the airline of
Samoa;
(e) The introduction of various cooperative arrangements between some of
the inter-island carriers regarding the use of individual aircraft (including
aircraft sharing and joint flights) and sharing of the seats on individual
flights;
(f) Other forms of inter-airline cooperation within the Association of
South Pacific Airlines.
IV. AFRICAN SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES
18. With Cape Verde and Sao Tome and Principe located off the west coast and
with the Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles widely separated in the Indian
Ocean, this group of small island developing States is geographically
dispersed. As a result, in air transport terms, they have much less in common
than the Caribbean or the Pacific small island developing States.
19. All of the African small island developing States have air services to
some of the neighbouring countries on the African continent. Most of them
also have direct services (non-stop or stopping) to some of the more important
tourist- generating markets in Europe, while Mauritius also has services to
some points in Asia. Cape Verde continues to be an intermediate stop for some
long-haul transatlantic services. However, in most cases, the service
frequencies on international routes are low. In addition, all of the African
small island developing States have domestic air services and have their own
airlines, which operate both international and domestic services. While Air
Mauritius was profitable in 1993, little is known about the financial
performance of the other airlines.
20. Since the Barbados Conference, there do not appear to have been any
significant air transport developments specifically affecting African small
island developing States.
V. OTHER SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES
21. In air transport terms, the other small island developing States have
little in common with one another or with the Caribbean, Pacific and African
small island developing States. Singapore has one of the busiest
international airports in the world and one of the most successful
international airlines. Bahrain, owing in part to its strategic geographical
position, has frequent international air services to many destinations, and
Gulf Air (jointly owned by the Governments of Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Qatar and
Oman) has an extensive international route network and is profitable. Both
Cyprus and Malta have frequent air services to many Mediterranean countries
and to the important tourist-generating markets in northern Europe, and both
have profitable national airlines. Maldives has services to neighbouring
points in India and Sri Lanka and to a few other international destinations,
although service frequencies are low.
22. Since the Barbados Conference, significant air transport developments
affecting these other small island developing States include:
(a) The announcement by Singapore Airlines of a multi-billion dollar
aircraft order in 1994, followed by another in 1995;
(b) Consideration of the privatization of Gulf Air;
(c) The commencement of transatlantic operations by Cyprus Airways and
by Air Malta, both through joint services with other airlines;
(d) The commencement of international operations by Air Maldives.
VI. SPECIFIC ASPECTS OF AIR TRANSPORT
23. The Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island
Developing States calls for particular attention to be given to environmental
protection, safety and innovative energy-efficient and low-cost transport
solutions, and also refers specifically to quarantine problems.
24. With regard to environmental protection, it is unlikely that the
principal environmental problems associated with air transport elsewhere in
the world, namely, aircraft noise and the impact of aircraft engine emissions,
would be significant in a small island developing States context because of
the relatively small traffic flows in most cases. For these States, of
potentially greater significance are the environmental problems associated
with airport construction and expansion (such as loss of land and soil
erosion; impact on water tables, river courses and field drainage; and impact
on flora and fauna), particularly if this occurs in coastal areas, and with
airport operations (such as water pollution caused by inadequate treatment of
contaminants in airport waste water or by leakage from storage tanks; disposal
of environmentally harmful materials used in aircraft servicing and
maintenance; and disposal of waste from the airport and incoming aircraft).
Small island developing States may obtain guidance on airport planning from
ICAO. 3/
25. With regard to safety, small island developing States largely share the
same concerns as other developing States, although the extreme weather
conditions experienced by some small island developing States may pose
additional problems. Through ICAO, States have achieved agreement on the
necessary level of standardization for the operation of safe, regular and
efficient air services. In turn, this has resulted in high levels of
reliability being achieved in all the many areas that collectively make up
international civil aviation. This has particularly been so with respect to
aircraft, the crews that operate them and the ground-based facilities and
services. The necessary standardization has been achieved through the
creation of specifications known as International Standards and Recommended
Practices (SARPS), as annexes to the Convention on International Civil
Aviation. A standard is a specification the uniform application of which is
necessary for the safety or regularity of international civil air navigation,
while a recommended practice is one agreed to be desirable but not essential.
However, many small island developing States have not indicated their
compliance with or differences from these provisions, as article 38 of the
Convention requires. In addition to the SARPs, ICAO also formulates
Procedures for Air Navigation Services (PANS), which comprise, for the most
part, operating practices as well as material considered too detailed for
SARPs. In October 1994, the ICAO Council agreed to establish an ICAO safety
oversight programme incorporating, as its core function, safety oversight
assessments of States on a voluntary basis by ICAO teams, with the objective
of identifying deficiencies and providing relevant advice and assistance in
addressing these deficiencies, as necessary, to enable States to implement the
relevant SARPs.
26. With regard to innovative energy-efficient and low-cost transport
solutions, there has been no significant progress since the Barbados
Conference.
27. With regard to quarantine problems, most small island developing States
adopt "in quarantine" measures as defined by the World Health Organization
(WHO) to prevent the spread of disease - notably yellow fever - carried by
reservoirs of disease or vectors of diseases. Some States also require
disinsecting of aircraft to ensure that this objective is achieved and that
the area within the airport perimeter is kept free of mosquito vectors of
malaria and other diseases. However, more than 20 small island developing
States have not indicated to ICAO their compliance with or differences from
annex 9 (Facilitation) - which contains several provisions on disinsecting of
aircraft and quarantine measures - making it difficult to determine the extent
to which health regulations are applied to air transport in these States.
ICAO and WHO collaborate closely on issues of public health related to air
transport. Significant developments since the Barbados Conference include a
recommendation by the Eleventh Session of the Facilitation Division of ICAO
(April 1995) that ICAO and WHO should draft joint guidelines relating to
quarantine and disinsecting of aircraft, in order to enable States to adopt
appropriate measures in the interest of public health and air transport.
VII. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION
A. At the national level
28. As required by the Convention of International Civil Aviation (article
38), the many small island developing States that have not responded to ICAO
indicating their positions with regard to the ICAO International Standards and
Recommended Practices (contained in the annexes to the Convention) should
indicate their compliance with or differences from these provisions.
29. Small island developing States should familiarize themselves with current
technological developments of relevance to air transport, such as CNS/ATM
systems and the ICAO flight safety programme, with a view to ensuring active
participation on an individual or subregional basis in global programmes
related to these developments. Small island developing States may obtain
guidance from ICAO in the formulation of projects, location of donors for the
funding of such projects, and implementation of projects.
30. Wherever possible, human resources development should be introduced in
such areas as air traffic control, airport management, aviation security,
flight operations and airworthiness, air transport regulation and air law.
31. Small island developing States should participate more actively in the
ICAO Statistics Programme, which provides data on air transport that would be
of value to those countries in their future planning. To that end, small
island developing States should ensure that their international airlines file
with ICAO their traffic reports, cost statistics and financial statements, as
required by the Convention on International Civil Aviation (article 67).
B. At the regional level
32. It is recommended that regional projects be formulated for the evaluation
and creation of air transport master plans for groupings of small island
developing States. The groupings would be based on those identified above,
namely:
(a) Caribbean small island developing States;
(b) Pacific small island developing States;
(c) West coast and Indian Ocean African small island developing States,
respectively.
33. This recommendation excludes the other small island developing States
(Bahrain, Cyprus, Maldives, Malta and Singapore), except in so far as it may
be appropriate to include Maldives in the regional project for African small
island developing States in the Indian Ocean.
34. These projects would cover all the action items identified in the
Programme of Action and would seek to address the air transport challenges
facing these groupings of small island developing States, such as, in order of
priority:
(a) Ensuring compliance with International Standards and Recommended
Practices (SARPs) and implementation of measures related to the ICAO flight
safety programme;
(b) The availability of aviation management skills and of suitably
trained manpower, and associated training requirements;
(c) The impact on small island developing States of technological
changes taking place (CNS/ATM etc.);
(d) Difficulties experienced in obtaining funding for aviation projects;
(e) Problems associated with distance and isolation (such as relatively
high transport costs, including both fuel and insurance);
(f) The impact on small island developing States of changes taking place
in the economic regulation of air transport, including exploring the scope for
more regional cooperation with regard to the regulatory aspects of air
transport, such as joint negotiation of air transport agreements;
(g) The impact on small island developing States of commercial changes
taking place in the air transport industry, including exploring the scope for
greater cooperation (both commercial and technical) between airlines within
the small island developing States grouping concerned and with other
international airlines;
(h) Finding possible strategies for dealing with potential conflicts
between small island developing States' air transport policies and their
tourism policies;
(i) The availability of reliable communications.
C. At the international level
35. The international community should sponsor studies, for example by
aircraft manufacturers, to investigate the feasibility of developing
innovative energy- efficient and low-cost transport solutions that would be of
benefit to small island developing States.
Notes
1/ Report of the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of
Small Island Developing States, Bridgetown, Barbados, 25 April-6 May 1994
(A/CONF.167/9 and Corr.1 and 2) (United Nations publication, Sales No.
E.94.I.18 and corrigenda), chap. I, resolution 1, annex II.
2/ Based on data collected by the International Civil Aviation
Organization from its 184 contracting States. The traffic unit used is ton-
kilometres performed (that is, a combined measure of passenger, freight and
mail traffic, which also takes into account the distance (flown)).
3/ For example, Airport Planning Manual (Doc. 9184-AN/902), Part 1,
Master Planning (2nd ed., 1987), Part 2, Land Use and Environmental Control
(2nd ed., 1985), Part 3, Guidelines for Consultant/Construction Services (1st
ed., 1983).
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