Cyclone: airports are expected to maintain a safe environment for aircraft (representation)
Sydney / Taipei:
Airlines, airports and insurers across Asia are bracing for unusually high damage at the start of the region’s tropical storm season as hundreds of planes immobilized by the coronavirus pandemic cannot be easily moved.
Major airports in storm-prone regions like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand and India have been turned into giant parking lots as COVID-19 travel restrictions stifle demand.
“If you have these planes on the ground, you can imagine putting them back into service in a short period of time is not an easy thing,” said Gary Moran, insurance broker for Asia for the insurance broker. Aon. “The challenge is that you may have a typhoon or a hurricane coming and there will be many planes that cannot be moved in time.”
Air insurers, already prepared to reimburse a large part of the accident risk premiums due to the groundings, are now faced with the greater risk than usual of consolidating numerous planes at airports, experts said. industry.
“An event could cause damage that costs millions of dollars to repair, possibly more than several hundred million depending on the aircraft involved,” said James Jordan, senior partner at HFW Asia, aerospace and insurance practices.
In directives to be issued this week to airport operators, seen by Reuters, the Airports Council International (ACI) trade group warns that aircraft flying out of danger, normal practice, may not be possible. He indicates that additional precautions such as more tie-ups may be necessary.
“Extreme weather events such as hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones are a seasonal hazard in many parts of the world, and in the COVID context provide an additional layer of danger with many airports accommodating more aircraft parked “said CREA Executive Director Angela Gittens. in a statement to Reuters.
Mumbai airport said Wednesday that small private planes vulnerable to strong winds were to be flown or parked in a hangar as the city prepared for a rare cyclone.
According to a spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport has so many ground planes that use a runway to park.
Taiwan’s aviation regulator said it has asked airports to hold typhoon readiness meetings 36 hours in advance this year, rather than the usual 24 hours, to give airlines enough time to make parking requests. It will open taxiways if necessary at Taipei’s main international airport, Taoyuan, to allow 160 aircraft parked.
EVA Airways Corp <2618.TW> said his plans included securing the planes, parking them in hangars and shipping them to other airports in Taiwan and abroad. Taiwan’s largest carrier, China Airlines Ltd <2610.TW>, said he expected a typhoon, but declined to provide details.
Hong Kong International Airport, home to Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd <0293.HK> and Hong Kong Airlines said it had 150 planes parked and most of the precautionary measures had already been taken in preparation for the typhoon season.
The measures include refueling the aircraft to make them heavier, coupling the weights to the nose gear, adding weights to the hold, placing double chocks on the aircraft wheels and flying the aircraft to ” other airports, said the airport operator.
Osaka Kansai International Airport, whose runway flooded when Typhoon Jebi hit a seawall in 2018, said it had increased the height of the wall and waterproofed the facility.
Airports will also need to ensure that they do not have loose equipment that poses a risk to aircraft or that they could face claims from airline insurers, said Moran d’Aon.
“The airport is supposed to maintain a safe environment for the aircraft,” he said. “It is their duty of care.”
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
