Routes and Airports Channel

ACI's Gittens fires back at airlines over fees, charges

By Sandra Arnoult
ATW's Airports Today, September 2009, p.1

Airports are not the major cause of the economic woes of the airline industry, Airports Council International World Director Angela Gittens told ATW's Airports Today. In recent months, IATA and the Assn. of European Airlines, as well as individual carriers like Ryanair, have complained about airport fees and charges in vocal and sometimes harsh terms. IATA even erected a metaphorical "Wall of Shame" with the names of airports it believes are guilty of overcharging airlines.

But Gittens contends that airports must cover their own operating costs. "If the cost is there, who is going to pay for it?" she asked. "We are supposed to be business partners. What kind of partner expects you to subsidize them? Airline rates and charges are cost-based. Airports try to keep rates low to remain competitive. When [airlines] ask for rate relief, 'lower your charges' means give me a discount for your costs."

In July, AEA claimed that the economic downturn is hurting carriers worse than airports. "This current downturn affects all of us, but airlines much harder than the infrastructure providers because we not only have fewer passengers but they are traveling on lower fares," AEA Secretary General Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus said in a statement. "Only because there are inadequacies and distortions in the value chain can one sector flourish at the expense of others. In better time, such behavior was unreasonable. During the worst crisis the industry has known, it is completely unacceptable."

Gittens attributes much of the rhetoric to political posturing aimed at government regulators. She said airport charges on average amount to about 4% of airlines' overall costs, "which is pretty much a bargain for what they get. The notion that somehow airports have gone out of control with these charges is completely false."

In July, total airport traffic worldwide was down 1.2% over the same period a year earlier but that was an improvement over the declines of 5% in June and 8% in May, according to ACI-World. Worldwide freight traffic was down 8.7% compared to July 2008.

Gittens remains optimistic that airports may see a slight rebound next year with growth of 2%-3%, a modest improvement over the expected overall decline of 4%-5% for 2009. "It's starting to emerge," she said. "You will start to see some green shoots, particularly in Asia. The Middle East [traffic] didn't go down as much. You're starting to see domestic growth in some of the emerging markets like China, Brazil and India. There is less of a decline in the cargo area but it's still pretty scary."

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