March 31, 2007

International Airport Construction

Not sure how this relates, but I found the story interesting. If nothing else it shows although the the City of Worcester simply has done a bad job operating the airport, there is an inherent value in an airport. If you want to read the whole story from the Businesswire, but here is a small part:

Among individual countries, China along with India holds considerable potential for investors. One hundred and eight new airports are to be constructed in China between 2006 and 2010, and the decision of the Chinese Government to stop providing subsidies to domestic airports by 2005 and to allow private investors to build, buy, or manage airports makes for considerable potential. The total cost expected to be incurred for the construction of new airports alone is $13.3 billion (110 billion Yuan). In India, the success of low cost carriers (LCCs) has changed the countries aviation profile as well as the outlook of both the government and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) toward airports. Eight more airports are likely to be built in the country by 2010, in addition to the 94 airports that exist at present. Existing airports by themselves promise opportunities as none of these airports meet the latest international quality standards.

Overall, the Asia Pacific airport financing market is positioned to grow and sustain its profitability for the next five years, largely due to the aviation boom arising from the growth of LCCs and the recent initiatives of various regional governments to increase private participation. "Recent analysis shows that by 2015, between $150 billion and $200 billion is likely to be invested in airports globally, out of which 40 to 45 percent would be invested in airports across the Asia Pacific region," says the analyst. "The above figures are in line with the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.0 percent for the air travel industry in the long term, with some 4.6 billion people predicted to travel by air by 2020."

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE it !!! One of Communism's last holdouts (China) is keeping government and quasi-government (think Massport) agencies out of the airport business and we (city of Worcester) are embracing a quasi-government agency as our saviour!! Bill, you were soooooooooooooooooooooo right. We should have RFP'd everything the day after the first Massport deal was done, this way we could have gotten the city the best offer for it. Waiting to hand it over for pennies on the dollar in a few months doesn't get me overly excited. Granted we may get some service out of the airport, but at what cost. Looks like Massholes, er MASSPORT, excuse me ...will make out the best out of anyone.
How soon until they have those Peter Blute-esque booze cruises on Lake Quinsigamond?

Oh well, Ho Hum.

Harry Tembenis
Worcest, MA

Bill Randell said...

Harry:

As I have said numerous times.. The City of Worcester should be out of the airport business. As Harry said the very day this current agreement was signed, we were basically given three years to get us the best offer on ORH.

Think about how much better it would have looked having Allegiant flying out of here trying to sell ORH. Instead we blew monies on IMG,put an RFP out on a 4 acre parcel that nobody made an offer, waited on the New England Regional Study and finally our Master Plan. By the way where the hell is that??

Thanks

Bill

Anonymous said...

Does anyone ever wonder how inefficiently our other city depts are run, given what we've been able to discern regarding the operation of ORH the last 18 months?

Imagine if the library or teh DPW e.g. were ever dissected the way ORH operations have been.

I'll betcha in the DPW, the average "production line worker" has 46 paid days off per year. Try getting that at Waste Management. 20 days vacation, 12 haul-a-daize, 11 sick days, & 3 personal days..and the garbage collectors only work 4 1/2 hours a day except the week after Christmas when there's twice the trash.

Time to trash municipal trash pick up and hand it off to a private hauler. break-up the DPW fiefdom

Anonymous said...

A WORC MCAS TRUE OR FALSE PRIMER:

1. Unless a new agreement( w/MASSPORT) is hammered out, the airport has no future.

2. Some city councilors seem to believe the sale or lease of the airport could result in a financial windfall.......That is a financial misconception.

3. It is therefore a given that the next operating agreement with Massport should lead to the authority taking title to the 1,300- acre facility.


4. Anything less (than Massport ownership) would make the pact (w/Worcester) meaningless.

5. ....without Massport, it (ORH) has no future.

6. no new airport could be built anywhere in New England in the foreseeable future.

7. Mr. O’Brien said he......... He expects “fair market value” for the land and assets, as well as many other benefits.

8. There is no long line of suitors banging on the door, eager to take on an airport that loses money, has no airlines, cannot be sold and needs infrastructure improvement.

9. Worcester does not have a huge liability for unused sick pay that renders the city techically bankrupt.

Anonymous said...

Best of luck Worcester Airport.