|
 |
 |
TOKYO — Aviation topics have been very much in the news lately, from
stories about "economy class syndrome" to the crash of the Singapore
Airlines jumbo jet at Taipei
late at night Oct. 31
Anyone who has made a dozen or more international flights each year for
the last quarter-century is likely to share my opinion that air travel
amenities, comfort, and convenience
all have deteriorated steadily during that time.
The decline in quality of inflight meals is an international joke.
"Economy class syndrome," in which passengers have died from poor
circulation
after sitting in tiny seats for 12 hours, breathing stale air and severely
dehydrating, is becoming more frequent.
A Japanese team led by Hiroshi Morio, deputy head of the internal
medicine department at the Narita Red Cross Hospital, said some 30 people
have been hospitalized after reporting such symptoms on arrival at Narita
Airport.
A paper on the situation will be presented to a Tokyo medical conference
this week.
About 200 cases of people suffering from the same syndrome have been
reported abroad and some of those have resulted in death. Passengers in
first or business class can also suffer from the symptoms , Mori said.
The biggest advance is that some airlines now offer drinking water to
passengers more frequently. Otherwise, the overall situation in cabins aloft
is getting worse.
The Singapore Airlines crash was terribly unfortunate, particularly for
the line which had
worked hard to win its high international reputation.
On assignments in the past year, I have visited new airport projects at
Inchon in South Korea and Kobe, in Japan, which is still mostly on the
drawing boards. Earlier, I had followed construction of the boutique Macau
International Airport from groundbreaking to first operational takeoff.
Still earlier, there were several visits to the Chek Lap Kok, the new
Hong Kong airport.
All of these airports were or are being built on reclaimed land; that
is artificial islands were built in the sea the sea to accommodate
runways.
The deepest landfill was at Osaka¡¦s Kansai International Airport.
Joining a press tour of
foreign correspondents, nearly 10 years ago, it was an awesome prospect to
contemplate that a runway would someday be located beneath our motor launch.
The $14 billion Kansai airport opened in 1994 but it is now awash in
red ink, losing
foreign airline customers who balk at landing-takeoff fees that are among
the world¡¦s highest, and is literally sinking into Osaka Bay.
Other airport managements also overseeing airports built on reclaimed
land, openly joke about Kansai being converted to a "submarine base"
because of is subsidence.
A second runway under consideration probably would drive traffic away
instead of attracting it.
The question might be asked: "Is the Kansai International Airport in
Osaka, Japan, a national disaster?
Or to be more kind: "Is it the nation¡¦s biggest "white elephant?"
It is difficult to refute an Asahi Shimbun editorial of Oct. 19 which
said "There is no denying that international airports in Japan are not as
good as their counterparts in other Asian nations, let alone the rest of
the civilized world."
Later, in criticizing "endless cases of taxpayers¡¦ money being used
to bailout failed semipublic enterprises," the Asahi editorial said:
"Redundant investments are being made everywhere in the name of "local
demand," but the nation has yet to build an internationally viable
airport."
That is a serious indictment of a nation that prides itself on
technological superiority.
Edward Neilan (eneilan@tkd.att.ne.jp) is a veteran journalist, based in Tokyo, who covers East Asia and writes weekly for World Tribune.com.