"Aerotropolis - The Way We'll Live Next" by John Kasarda and Greg Lindsay

I had expected that this book would be more of an academic work than what it is - largely one of business journalism - but it is well worth a read nonetheless.

Aerotropolis gives a good picture of the role that civil aviation is now playing in globalisation, and how airports have become central to modern economies and urban development.

Featured in the book are developments around:

• Incheon (ICN) - where a new city, Songdo, is being built
• Los Angeles (LAX) - where the airport had not been supported
• Dulles (IAD) - near Washington DC in a wealthy and growing part of Virginia
• Chicago (ORD) - where there were plans for an additional airport
• Memphis (MEM) and Louisville (SDF) - hubs for FedEx and UPS respectively
• Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) - hub for American Airlines
• Detroit (DTW) - second hub for Delta with links to Asia and looking to build a Detroit Region Aerotropolis
• Denver (DEN) - where a completely new airport was opened
• Amsterdam (AMS) - with its associated flower market
• Dubai (DXB), Abu Dhabi (AUH) and Doha (DOH) - with their competing global ambitions
• Bangkok (BKK) - where a new airport has been built on a swamp
• Hong Kong (HKG), Guangzhou (CAN) and Shenzhen (SZX) - vital to the success of manufacturing in the Pearl River Delta

For me, the book's coverage of developments in China was the most interesting, perhaps because it was the least familiar.

Memorable concepts from the book include:

• "Kasarda's Law of Connectivity: every technology meant to circumvent distances electronically ... will only stoke our desire to transverse [distance] ourselves."
• "Individual companies don't compete. Supply chains compete. Networks and systems compete."
• Marchetti's Constant

One piece of advice that is actually included late in the book. Use Google Earth while reading "Aerotropolis" to get an idea of the lie of the land around the airports being referred to.

Reviews of the book have appeared in:

• Kirkus Reviews 15 December 2010
• Bloomberg Businessweek 24 February 2011
• FT Magazine 25 February 2011
• Wall Street Journal 2 March 2011
• New York Times 4 March 2011
• The Independent 4 March 2011
• The Telegraph 13 March 2011
• The Guardian 19 March 2011
• Barnes and Noble Review 22 March 2011
• The Scotsman 27 March 2011
• The Enlightened Economist 28 April 2011
• London Review of Books 28 April 2011 
• History Books Review 27 May 2011
• Los Angeles Review of Books 30 May 2011

It is clear that civil aviation in general and the future that Kasarda outlines have their sceptics and this book is somewhat provocative.

An earlier 1 July 2006 article, Rise of the Aerotropolis, on the concept by Greg Lindsay appeared in Fast Company.

Japan concludes "open skies" agreement with South Korea

On 17 January 2011 Tokyo Tomo carried a report that at negotiations held on 21-22 December 2010 Japan and South Korea had reached an "open skies" agreement. Excluded, however, is access to Haneda where airport slots remain tightly constrained.

Japan announces priorities for "open skies"

A 17 December 2011 story from AFP carried by channelnewsasia.com reported that Japan was giving priority to negotiating "open skies" agreements with South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia. Interesting is Japan's new willingness to cover access to Narita (NRT) in these agreements.

Japan considering "solidarity" tax on international air travel

On 28 September 2010 the Asahi Shimbun reported that the Japanese Government is considering introducing a 'solidarity' tax on international air transport.

Chile, France and South Korea already has such a tax in place with the money being used to fund UNITAID NEW.

Canada reaches "Blue Sky" agreement with South Korea

On 15 July 2009 the Canadian Government announced that it had negotiated a "Blue Sky" air transport agreement with the Republic of Korea.

Korea and Japan expand air services opportunities

In a 10 June 2009 post the Airline Route Update weblog reports that Japan and Korea have again expanded the opportunities available under their air services arrangements (see previous post).

This would seem to again point to a willingness on the part of Japan to open up Osaka and Nagoya to fifth freedom services by foreign carriers as part of a new policy approach (see previous post).

Thanks to a link from Airline Route Update I have discovered where to find the official press statements NEW from the Japanese aeronautical authorities at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism NEW on the outcomes of their air services negotiations. Unfortunately they are only available in Japanese but a rough translation NEW is possible using Google Translate NEW. I will endeavour to update my previous posts that used secondary sources.

Collapse of outbound travel from Korea

The latest monthly statistics available from the Korea Tourism Organization indicate that in January, February and March 2009 departures of Koreans were down -38.6%, -33.5% and -28.6% respectively on the same month in 2008 (HT to Associate Professor David Duval at the University of Otago).

Data from Statistics New Zealand indicate that in the same months, when compared with 2008 numbers, Korean resident arrivals to New Zealand were down -42%, -29% and -19% respectively. Tourism New Zealand has market research available on South Korea NEW.

Korea negotiates new air services arrangements with the UAE

On 10 May 2009 the United Arab Emirates announced new air services arrangements with the Republic of Korea that will provide the opportunity for Etihad to commence operations between Abu Dhabi and Incheon.

On 8 May 2009 the Korea Times had reported the reaction of the Korean airline industry, including this interesting quote:

"'The government is supposed to speak up for its national flag carriers and stand on their side, but the outcome of the talks demonstrates that none of that happened,' said Lim Jae-won, a Korean Air spokesman."

South Africa making progress implementing 2006 Airlift Strategy

A 23 June 2008 story in Business Day reports on South Africa's good progress in implementing its Airlift Strategy 2006 (see previous post). South Africa is reported to have recently negotiated new air services arrangements with the United Kingdom (a substantial capacity increase), Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Gambia and New Zealand. South Africa is also reported to be in negotiations with Australia, India and the Netherlands.

Korea and Macau open up new air routes

The Macau Daily Times reported on 28 February 2008 that Macau and Korea have agreed to amendments in their air services arrangements that will, among other things, see airlines from Macau permitted to operate to any point in South Korea.

Australia and South Korea negotiate additional air service opportunities

On 27 August 2007 Australian Minister for Transport, Mark Vaile, announced that Australia has concluded new air services arrangements with South Korea. As well as a passenger capacity increase, all restrictions on the operation of freighter services have been removed and restrictions on the ability of both countries' airlines to access intermediate and beyond point hub markets have been reduced.

Japan and South Korea liberalise air services arrangements

Reports on 3 August 2007 in Bloomberg, Chosun Ilbo, Japan Today and Channel Newsasia outline the contents of new air services arrangements reached between Japan and South Korea. The exchange negotiated over two days last week in Tokyo includes a limited exchange of fifth freedom rights. Restrictions remain on access to the two slot-constrained Tokyo airports, Narita and Haneda.

These are the first such more open arrangements negotiated by Japan and clearly represent the implementation of a major change in policy (see previous post).

South Korea signs new air services arrangements with the Philippines

New air services arrangements have been signed between the Philippines and South Korea. A story dated 25 June 2007 carried by Yahoo, reports that the negotiations saw a large capacity increase to 19,000 seats per week for the airlines of each side.

A 21 June 2007 column in the Manila Standard Today outlines the Korean negotiating tactics. A opinion column dated 15 June 2007 in the Inquirer, highly critical of the Philippines delegation leader, Undersecretary Edward Pagunsan, suggests that there may have been considerable tensions within the Philippines delegation. A 7 June 2007 article in the Manila Times expands on this.

South Korea-France air services negotiations

An AFP story reports on the issues being addressed last week in two days of air services negotiations between France and the Republic of Korea.

The outcome was announced in a statement issued on 26 January 2007 by the Korean Ministry of Construction & Transportation.