Etihad CEO highlights importance of China

China is key to growth for global airlines in 2011 and beyond, Etihad CEO James Hogan said on Friday. Hogan, who was delivering a lecture to mark the 2011 installment of the UAE-Australia Dialogues, set up by the Lowy Institute for International Policy, said expanding routes to Chinese cities was a focus of the UAE's national airline. His comments come just weeks after Etihad announced that it would be flying to the Sichuan capital of Chengdu, in south-weste China, a city of 11 million people and the capital of a province that is home to 81 million. "China has recently built 50 new airports. Another 50 will open before this decade is out," Hogan said. Article continues below "We are within three hours' flying time of two billion people, from young populations with an appetite for education and imported goods." Speaking particularly of Sichuan, Hogan quoted former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, who pointed to the importance of second and third tier Chinese cities. "Kevin Rudd spoke of what he called ‘China 2.0'. Of 93 secondary Chinese cities that, by 2020, will have larger populations than Greater Sydney, of six Chinese provinces with economies larger than Russia or Spain or Canada," he said. Drawn east "We know the centre of geopolitical gravity is being drawn rapidly and inexorably east towards Asian economic power," he added. "A new Indian, Chinese and even Vietnamese middle class is the headline act, to be sure." Hogan also commented on Abu Dhabi's wider vision as an emirate, comparing it to the city state of Singapore in the importance that it attributes to aviation. "Singapore now is the world's fourth largest financial centre, the world's fifth largest port, and one of the world's most important air transport hubs," he said. "Like Singapore, aviation is the absolute lifeblood of the UAE's future economic prospects."