Having been overtaken by ShanghaiPudong International Airport with its2.16 million tonnes of cargo handled in2006 – against Singapore’s 1.91 million- Singapore is changing its tactics, TheStar reported.

According to Yeo Kia Thye, cargochief at the Civil Aviation Authority ofSingapore (CAAS), the city state willimplement a two-fold strategy to meetits rivals.

First, CAAS aims to invest in, or manage,airports on the Chinese mainlandto tap into new growth opportunitiesthere, as opposed to watching rivalschip away at its leading market position.

To this end, CAAS has started talkswith mainland airport authorities andsigned a Memorandum of Understandingto purchase a 40-45 percent stakein Nanjing airport for CNY1.5 billion (US$192.6 million).

The second aspect of the Singapore strategy is to turn itself into a regional logistics hub for intra-Asia cargo flows, as the Airport Logistics Park of Singapore (ALPS) enjoys free trade zone status.