KEY POINTS:
Strong growth in the Asia-Pacific region will see its share of global airline passenger traffic increase from 23 per cent last year to 27 per cent of the global total of 2.75 billion passengers by 2011, aviation industry body IATA says.
This is equivalent to a 279 million increase in annual passengers within the region over the five years.
Asia-Pacific will have a higher share of the global market than the US domestic market, although it will still be slightly smaller than the North American market as a whole.
The International Air Transport Association figures show the 2.75 billion figure for total travellers represents a 29 per cent increase on those flying last year.
IATA says the number of travellers taking international flights would increase to 980 million from 760 million in the next five years, with average annual growth of 5.1 per cent.
On domestic routes, passenger demand is expected to hit 1.77 billion by 2011, compared to the 1.37 billion who flew in 2006, in part because of expanded flight traffic inside large countries such as India and China.
The association's director general, Giovanni Bisignani, said: "The numbers clearly show that the world wants to fly. And it also needs to fly."
At present, aviation affected the livelihoods of 32 million people and generated US$3.5 trillion in economic activity.
The figures are in line with projections released by Boeing earlier this month in its 20-year forecast, which showed Asia-Pacific air-traffic growth was expected to exceed the world average.
Boeing forecast Asia-Pacific markets would grow by 6.3 per cent, against the world average of 5 per cent.
The total fleet of all aircraft would nearly double by 2026, growing from 18,200 aeroplanes to more than 36,400.
IATA's Bisignani warned of a looming infrastructure crisis.
"Failure to prepare adequately to meet demand will have an environmental cost, with inefficient use of airspace and delays. There is no panacea, but the starting point for a sustainable solution is a common vision for efficiency that is acted on by governments and industry.
"The unprecedented-delays nightmare in the US is a clear example of the paralysis that results when we miss the mark on effective planning.
"This is mirrored in Europe, where governments still have not cleaned up the mess in air traffic management."
Bottlenecks add 12 per cent to airlines' fuel bills, and cost the environment 73 million tonnes of unnecessary CO2 emissions each year, he said.
Its forecast showed that China's average annual increase for the five years would be 8.8 per cent, India's 8.6 per cent, and Vietnam's 7.7 per cent.
The association says airlines were in a better financial position than they were five years ago.
Taking off
* IATA predicts the number of international passengers will grow from 760 million to 980 million in the next five years,
* Domestic passenger numbers will grow to 1.77 billion by 2011, compared with 1.37 billion in 2006.
* Airport bottlenecks add 12 per cent to airlines' fuel bill and add 73 million tonnes of unnecessary CO2 emissions each year.
