SINGAPORE'S INTERNATIONAL AIR CARGO TRANSPORT

Abstract

This study investigates air freight industry various aspects of the growing in Singapore including the operations of airlines, freight forwarders and airport ground handling agents, the regulation of capacity and pricing, the pattern and characteristics of flows of cargo, and the role played by the aviation authorities in developing Singapore into a major international air freight hub. The volume of air cargo handled in Singapore has grown from a meagre 6,000 tonnes in 1964 to more than 350,000 tonnes in 1986. Singapore Changi Airport, in 1986, achieved the status of being the 10th busiest in the world in terms of the volume of international air cargo handled. This growth is mainly the result of a number of carefully planned measures taken by the government. These include its liberal policy towards the bilateral exchange of traffic rights to attract foreign carriers, the monitoring of air freight rates to keep them competitive in the region, and the constant improvement of airport facilities and services. These factors have induced airlines and freight forwarders to transshipment hub for the Southeast Asian region. Of particular significance, in this respect, is the role played by the national carrier, Singapore Airlines. The growth in air freight traffic in Singapore is also attributed partly to the development of manufacturing industries in Singapore since the 1970s, producing high-value goods which are transported by air to foreign markets. The efforts of neighbouring countries to upgrade their own airports and air cargo services to compete with Singapore have forced the air freight industry in Singapore to develop new strategies to sustain continued growth in the future such as the streamlining of documentation procedures and promotion of Singapore as a sea-air transhipment centre.