FOCUS ON OIL CRISIS AT TIACA AGM
- Latest News
- Thursday, 27 July 2006
The world oil crisis and its impact on aviation and world trade will be one of the main topics of discussion. “Alternative aircraft fuels, more fuel efficient aircraft engines and improved air traffic management are part of the answer,” said Gary Bartek, chairman of TIACA. “There is no single solution to our dependence on oil.
“Airlines have been forced to add fuel surcharges to their cargo rates, driving up the cost of transporting raw materials and finished products. This increases inflationary pressures and may even slow down global economic development.”
Dr. Gal Luft, Executive Director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, a non-profit public educational organisation focused on energy security, will moderate the panel.
“The demand for crude oil is expected to grow to 94 million barrels per day (mbd) by 2010,” Dr. Luft said. “To satisfy this demand will require 30 mbd of new oil and to replace depletion, which is equivalent to the total amount of oil currently produced by OPEC. It is not likely that the oil industry will be able to ramp up production to such a level.”
Dr Luft points out that growing demand, the geological depletion of oil reserves, and the threat of terrorism and political instability call for conservation, enhanced recovery technologies, non conventional sources of energy and a shift to alternative fuels.
The TIACA conference, to be held in the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Beijing, will also include a panel entitled ‘The Clash of the Titans’: competitive presentations by Boeing and Airbus Industries set in the framework of air cargo forecasts. Another panel, titled ‘Air Cargo’s Role in the Economic Transformation of China’ will feature Ronghua Wang, director general, International Affairs and Cooperation, Civil Aviation of China, while a fourth panel titled ‘The Evolution of the Freight Forwarder’, will be moderated by Issa Baluch, chairman and CEO of Swift Freight International and former president of FIATA.
Full details of TIACA’s Executive Conference and AGM can be found at www.tiaca.org
