MAYASIA BUSINESS OUTLOOK9Jeff Bezos' space company, Blue Origin, launched a six-person crew to the edge of space from West Texas on Sunday, May 19. This launch marked the resump-tion of the company's space tourism business, which had been on hold since its suborbital New Shepard rocket was grounded in 2022. Among the crew was Ed Dwight, the first U.S. Black astronaut candidate from the 1960s, who, at the age of 90 years and eight months, became the oldest person in space."I am ecstatic," Dwight said upon landing, celebrating his historic flight. Dwight, along with the other passengers, was seated in a gumdrop-shaped capsule atop the rocket. The launch took place at Blue Origin's facilities near Van Horn, a remote desert town. The rocket separated from the capsule, which ascended beyond Earth's atmosphere to an altitude of 105.7 kilometers. Meanwhile, the booster re-turned to land as planned.The capsule then descended back to Earth under para-chutes, concluding a mission that lasted approximately 10 minutes. Notably, one of the capsule's three parachutes did not fully inflate, which could attract scrutiny before the next flight. Upon landing, Dwight stepped out of the capsule and celebrated by thrusting his fists into the air.Ed Dwight was originally selected by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to train as an astronaut but had never flown to space until this mission. With this flight, Blue Or-igin has now flown 37 private astronauts, including "Star Trek" star William Shatner, who flew in 2021 at the age of 90 years and six months. India is expected to be a power house for future airline growth driven by the eagerness of people to travel and growing population, according to a report. In a report, the Netherlands-based ING Bank NV said India is set to deliver strong structural growth figures, and airlines are preparing for this with historically large orders for new aircraft from carriers Indigo and Air India."The country plans to open a range of new airports, and strategically located countries - such as the UAE, with the world's second largest airport in terms of passenger traffic in Dubai - are anticipating strong transit passenger growth from Asia," it said.The report focusing on the outlook for the global aviation sector also noted that the long-term global growth outlook of 20 years has generally been tempered in the post pandemic era to a range of 3-4 percent annually instead of 5-6 percent, with Europe seeing the lowest growth figure.Further, it said that one of the main reasons is that flying is set to become significantly more expensive with rising costs of emissions.Domestic travelling within large countries was the area first to recover, with its average already hitting pre-pandemic levels last year. But differences across regions are prevalent, the report said and added that in the US and China, traffic figures started 2024 beyond pre-pandemic levels. NEWSROOMBLUE ORIGIN CELEBRATES SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH AFTER TWO YEARSINDIA SHOWS PROMISE FOR GROWTH OF AIRLINES:ING BANK
< Page 8 | Page 10 >