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 Airports, air traffic control must reduce costs: IATA head
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Airports, air traffic control must reduce costs: IATA head
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THE head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), speaking in Montreal at the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) Air Transport seminar in March, said governments, regulatory bodies and industry providers need to do more in order to help stave off financial disaster in the air industry.
"With military operations underway in Iraq, the airlines need to work quickly and closely with governments, regulatory bodies and industry service providers to ensure that civil aviation will not be crippled by this conflict," said IATA director general and CEO Giovanni Bisignani.
"I have written to some 200 airports and air transport provides to urge them to implement financial contingency plans, in order to freeze or even reduce charges and rates in this difficult period."
According to IATA, the industry has been struggling to recover from two years of staggering losses, and as result airlines are looking for full and immediate co-operation from their industry partners.
In 2000-01, according to independent sources, operating margins reached 27.6 per cent for airports and 23.4 per cent for air navigation service providers.
IATA's chief added: "Some airports and air navigation services providers have already announced plans to increase their charges. It would be irresponsible for any service provider to consider rate increases simply because traffic has dropped. They should be looking at reducing costs to meet the lower levels of revenues, instead of raising prices to meet revenue and profit targets.
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