The International Air Transport Association in charge of representing over 290 international carriers has warned that all intended increases in charges by airports and air navigation service providers should stall post the COVID-19 recovery in air travel and damage international connectivity.
This comes after airport and air navigation services providers in the United Kingdom, South Africa, European Union, Ethiopia and United States operating flights into Nigeria and other countries concludes plans to inflate their charges by at least $2.3bn (N950bn)
According to International Air Transport Association (IATA), the number of confirmed airport and ANSP charges increases have already reached $2.3bn (N950bn). It added that further increases could be at least 10 fold this number if proposals already tabled by airports and ANSPs were granted.
The Director-General, IATA, Willie Walsh, while speaking at the 77th Annual General Meeting and World Air Transport Summit in Boston on Tuesday stated that it was wrong for airports and air navigation services providers to increase their charges at a time the industry was seeking to recover from the devastating effects of COVID-19.
Walsh said, “A $2.3bn charges increase during this crisis is outrageous. We all want to put COVID-19 behind us. But placing the financial burden of a crisis of apocalyptic proportions on the backs of your customers, just because you can, is a commercial strategy that only a monopoly could dream up.
“At an absolute minimum, cost reduction – not charges increases – must be top of the agenda for every airport and ANSP. It is for their customer airlines.”