Sept. 23 – With Singapore the financial and services hub of Asia, and Indonesia one of the fastest growing and largest economies in the region, the Singapore-Jakarta air route has become the fastest growing route internationally in terms of passenger growth and demand. The flight – which takes just 80 minutes – is the only global route that has seen growth at above 20 percent this year. Some 298 flights operate each week with some 65,000 one way seats and 130,000 return seats booked ever y seven days. The route has shown an increase of 24 percent in passenger demand since last year.
Both Singapore Airlines and Garuda Indonesia are upgrading their services to accommodate larger aircraft from this November – a move that is expected to further spike an increase in flights by an additional 46 percent. Jakarta is also feeling the pinch – the current airport is too small and has had to turn down requests from 170 international flight routes this year alone. Work has already begun on the new Soekarno-Hatta Airport Terminal Three but this will not be completed until the end of 2014.
Indonesia has a population of some 240 million. Its economy has been growing at around the 6 percent mark the past decade, and an emerging middle class, coupled with the nation’s vast mineral resources, is starting to attract an increasing number of foreign investors – many of whom are using Singapore as a regional hub to project business elsewhere within the ASEAN region.
“Indonesia is one of the most attractive emerging markets in Asia right now, so it is not surprising to see these sorts of statistics come out,” says Chris Devonshire-Ellis, Managing Partner of Dezan Shira & Associates in Singapore. “Nonetheless, to have the world’s fastest growing air traffic corridor once again points to ASEAN as quickly developing into the third Asian tiger behind China and India. International companies should be looking beyond China and elsewhere into Asia.”
International companies interested in Singapore, Indonesia and the rest of ASEAN may visit our ASEAN Briefing website where a complete archived directory of bilateral investment treaties, double tax agreements and free trade agreements between these nations and all other countries worldwide may be accessed free of charge.
