Posted on April - 22 - 2010
Memphis airport officials get big lesson in Beijing
Cities without world-class airports will be left behind in a new global economic order that rewards swift, sure access to customers.
That was one of the takeaways from a Beijing, China, conference this week for organizers of Memphis’s airport-centered development plan and next year’s Airport Cities World Conference & Exhibition.
“Simply put, the message is that to be a global player in the future, you must have a global airport to create access to the new economic highways,” Memphis International Airport president Larry Cox and board chairman Arnold Perl said in an e-mail from China on Friday.
“It is no longer just about location; it’s about access. The future is here. These new economic highways will be the generators for unprecedented and sustainable economic development and jobs creation,” the officials said.
Larry Jensen, president and CEO of Commercial Advisors and chairman of the Greater Memphis Chamber’s Aerotropolis Corridor Development Group, said, “Memphis is a current thought leader and participant as a global access airport.” An aerotropolis is an airport-centered economic development model
Cox, Perl and Jensen are among the city’s representatives at the influential conference that is expected to draw about 500 people to Memphis next April 11-13.
“From Munich to Dubai to Mumbai to Denver to Dallas and all around the world, there is a staggering amount of current economic investment in airport infrastructure,” Jensen said.
“China, for example, plans to building 50 new airports in the next ten years and renovate many of the 152 existing facilities.”
Memphis is fortunate to have longstanding emphasis on airport infrastructure, as home to FedEx since 1973 and passenger airline hubs.
“We have opportunity before us if we can seize it and maximize the potentials,” Jensen said.
Cox and Perl said Beijing visitors stood in line to have photos taken with an Elvis cut-out.
“There is a great overall sense of excitement to come to the city that Elvis and FedEx made famous worldwide,” they said.
–Wayne Risher: 529-2874
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