“When an airline deploys a multimillion dollar asset in a market, you can bet it will want to grow that market – a factor that governments sometimes forget. In contrast, if cargo did not exist, in many countries peoplewould still be wearing fi g leaves.”
Menen went on to point out that liberal policies on traffi c rights were not at all incompatible with profi table airlines. “Traffi c rights are often used to protect carriers, but if that happens then your tax dollars are just being used to support ineffi ciencies,” he said.
“We need more open thinking. It is for the benefi t of the country itself to have a liberalised environment. Air cargo routes are the new economic highways. Removing barriers will add new high speed highways, and increase exports, foreign direct investment (FDI) and gross domestic product (GDP). Isn’t that what countries want?”
Menen even defended liberalisation when it led to more capacity and lower rates. “Lower rates bring tears to my eyes, but they allow the economy to grow,” he told delegates. “Consumers, shippers, and the consignee benefi t. Airlines benefi t, because it allows them to make more effi cient use of their assets and establish hub airports.”
Nearly 80 per cent of the variance in a nation’s economic performance, GDP and FDI could be explained by aviation liberalisation, he added.
By contrast, he said protectionist policies were just a form of government subsidy. “Any country which protects its national carrier is subsidising it, and I can say this because we at Emirates are a national carrier which is not subsidised in any way.”
Menen corrected one statement in the presentation by Ulrich Ogiermann of Cargolux, however, saying that shipping lines also had market access problems similar to the ones faced by airlines. “There are apparently restrictions on the open seas, and ownership rules,” he said.
The answer, he suggested, was for both air and sea to come together and work with the World Trade Organisationto bring such barriers down.
Naturally, Menen could not fi nish his presentation without citing Dubai as what he called “the perfect example of what liberalisation does to a country”. From being just a dot on the map, the emirate had grown into a regional and then a world hub,he pointed out.
“In 1995, there were 75 scheduled airlines, and now there are 194, and Emirates gets the same treatment as any other carriers,” he said. “People say it is protected, but it is not.” One last point Menen wanted to make was to congratulate TIACA on agreeing to press for the liberalisation of cargo – including belly cargo – and not just freighter fl ights, as it had originally intended.
“Liberalisation is a reality – it has got to happen, it will happen and we have to make it happen,” Menen concluded. “It is a legacy we must leave to the next generation.”