Airport Charges Need To Remain Low For Now

Geneva: Any kind of airport charge needs to remain low or frozen for now, as the aviation industry remains in the doldrums, said the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) director for airport and industry charges and taxation, Jeff Poole."We believe that the positive results achieved thus far, will be much tougher to repeat in 2010, as airports and air navigation service providers continue to suffer from reduced but improving traffic."There will be pressure for them to improve their financial position by increasing charges" he added.He said economic recovery, even if slow, may encourage the perception that charges can rise in better times."However, the aviation industry may take a while to fully recover.So, keep charges at current levels for sometime and only increase when the traffic is back to normal."There is a threat of governments seeking to fill their empty coffers by imposing new taxes, both environmental and otherwise," he stated at the IATA Global Media Day here on Tuesday.However, India increased airport charges by US$587 million and Eurocontrol states increased unit rates equal to US$360 million in costs.
16/12/09 Saraswathi Muniappan/Bernama

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Categories: Airports Dec 2009, Foreign Dec 2009