International interest in Asian airport research

International interest in Asian airport research

PALMERSTON NORTH - The publication of a book on Asia’s burgeoning airport development in Asia has brought international recognition for transportation researcher Professor Alan Williams.

His book, Developing Strategies for the Modern International Airport: East Asia and Beyond, was published this year. It analyses the primary issues facing modern international airports, and their role in a global economy, with special reference to China and East Asia. He says the topic is of great interest at the moment, with airport developers in Asia jostling for strategic placement to dominate air traffic as trade from China comes fully on stream.

Professor Williams, who is with Massey University’s School of Aviation, says the book has a strong personal endorsement from Professor Richard de Neufville, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the world's leading consultants on airport development. The two researchers are now corresponding on matters of mutual interest.

Professor Williams has also been invited to deliver a seminar on an airport strategy for the Pearl River delta, at Hong Kong International Airport in February.

Next year he starts work on a second book commissioned by the same publisher, with the working title of Contemporary Issues Shaping China's Civil Aviation Policy: Balancing International with Domestic Priorities. He will have an opportunity to do fieldwork for the book when he returns to China early next year, to teach in the International Masters of Business Administration at Sun Yat Sen University Business School. The second book is scheduled for publication in early 2008.

Professor Williams has also been asked to write a paper on the economics of low cost airlines for The Journal of Aviation Management, which is published annually by the Singapore Aviation Academy and has a global circulation.

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