Lee Kuan Yew at the IATA summit.  Straits Times:

THE future of the airline industry will move in tandem with the inexorable shift of economic activity from the Atlantic to the Pacific, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said here yesterday. …

Mr Lee focused on broader growth trends. He noted that China’s and India’s economies will still grow this year, even as most other nations sink into recession. During recent visits to Shanghai and Suzhou, he found the Chinese confident of achieving growth of 8 per cent this year.

They also have huge reserves and continue to build airports, certain that air travel will integrate China both internally and internationally, he said. As for India, it should achieve growth of 6 per cent this year. The other big players in the shift of activity from the Atlantic to the Pacific are the Gulf states.

Mr Lee said he watched with wonderment Emirates Airlines’ huge order of 45 A-380s, the world’s largest commercial aircraft. The order had not been cancelled despite the financial crisis. By comparison, Singapore Airlines only has eight A-380s.

‘We wonder where they are going and who they are carrying, but they are well placed financially,’ he said of Emirates, a keen competitor of SIA’s.