The Asean Open Skies Policy or Asean Single Aviation Market would result in an increase in planes and airline staff too, he said.
“There are problems in Europe as well, bureaucracy, social systems, but every economic union has created great wealth for the countries involved,” Fernandes said yesterday during a discussion staged as part of the 33rd-anniversary celebration of The Jakarta Post.
The Jakarta Post quoted Fernandes as saying that 879 million travellers within the EU, 106 million from Europe’s top-six countries, contributed EUR91 billion to the GDP of the member countries.
“The EU’s population is 508 million, served by 4,350 planes, compared with 1,600 planes in Asean. It is expected Europe will have 8,010 planes by 2032 and there will be 3,490 in Southeast Asia,” he was quoted as saying.
Fernandes predicted that there would be 95,000 pilots and 101,000 technicians by 2034.
The Open Skies Policy is expected to help increase trade between Asean nations by boosting the flow of goods and services and easing restrictions.
The Asean Open Skies Policy came into effect on January 1 last year. It aims to increase regional and domestic connectivity, integrate production networks and enhance regional trade by allowing airlines from Asean member states to fly freely throughout the region via the liberalisation of air services under a single, unified air transport market.