Alan Joyce, chief executive of Qantas, has warned that Hong Kong is in danger of losing its role as an international aviation hub because of intense competition. Speaking to the South China Morning Post, Joyce said that Middle East airports and explosive growth in flights from mainland China to global destinations threatened to undermine dominant Asian airports.
“The danger for a lot of the Asian hubs is that they were the premium hubs for a long time and what we are now seeing is the Middle Eastern hubs competing on the West and now the Chinese on the East and North,” Joyce said.
“There are now so many hubs, so many carriers operating the same strategy and competing against each other, and that will be a battle that is great for the consumers, and I don’t see any end in sight.”
Defending the Hong Kong hub, an Airport Authority spokesman said there was still strong demand in the region for global air traffic.