It is now clear that the United Kingdom will have a referendum on EU membership within the next four years after the Tory party was returned this morning with a slender majority. As mentioned previously there could well now be an opportunity for London in particular to become a leasing friendly capital, because if the UK leaves the EU after any referendum then it is certain that London will have to do something to become attractive to big business – We shall see.
Meanwhile some important stories are emerging today: Thailand's Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) has failed to update the Japanese Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) about safety issues raised in a January audit by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Under a memorandum of understanding signed last month, the DCA agreed to submit regular updates to the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB), outlining its progress in rectifying security concerns raised by the ICAO. In return the JCAB lifted a charter-flight ban on six Thai-registered carriers, including Thai Airways, NokScoot, Asian Air, Jet Asia, Asia Atlantic Airlines and Air Asia X. The agreement allows the airlines to operate charter flights to Japan from April 11 to May 31, 2015. Thailand's Transport Minister Air Marshal Prajin Juntong confirmed yesterday that Japanese authorities had recently contacted the DCA's director-general Somchai Phiphuttawat over breaking the agreement. We await the Japanese regulatory response.
This is highly significant because FAA representatives are due to meet with Thai authorities in mid-July to inspect aviation licensing and airport security measures. Thailand is running out of time to get its act together before a possible FAA curb comes into place.
In the APAC region, IATA is seeing demand for air travel weaken in the second quarter, as trade in Asia slows and European economies remain flat. "There are signs that regional trade activity in Asia-Pacific may be slowing and Eurozone economic weakness continues to disappoint," said Tony Tyler.
Staying in the APAC region it is interesting to note that Chinese train makers China CNR Corp and CSR Corp halted trading of their shares on Thursday, the first step in a merger process expected to create the world's biggest rail conglomerate in terms of sales. The Chinese state-backed firms have a combined market capitalization of US$113 billion and leaders of the current two companies have made no secret that they want to invest in Bombardier. So with Bombardier Transport coming onto the IPO market it is likely that the Chinese rail firm(s) will go for a significant stake in order to take on Siemens and Alstom. What will that mean for the aviation side of the Bombardier transport business? Well, rail will take precedence that is for sure.