Airport charges focus of attention for new European airline alliance

It was announced on Wednesday of this week that Europe’s five principal airline groups, IAG (British Airways & Iberia), Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, easyJet and Ryanair have formed an alliance which will go under the name A4E (Airlines for Europe). The launch at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport was timed to coincide with today’s EU Aviation Summit which is being held by the Netherlands as part of its six-month presidency of the European Union.
A4E said that the alliance will “represent the interests of its members when dealing with the EU institutions, international organizations and national governments on European aviation issues.” It is demanding “a significant reduction” in airport charges being “paid by hundreds of millions of EU travelers.”
The alliance’s first move has been to directly target what they consider to be unreasonable airport charges, action specifically aimed at allowing the alliance’s airlines to increase their level of competitiveness against major Gulf carriers. The group considers that European travellers are “being fleeced by excessive airport charges” and that current “unreasonable taxes” should be removed.
According to IAG’s CEO, Willie Walsh, “Six months ago, we got together to agree that Europe needs a loud and unified and clear voice to represent the airline industry in order to bring changes to the EU aviation framework,” adding that the new alliance will “support and create jobs and support the interest of aviation in Europe.”
Air France-KLM’s Alexandre de Juniac cited a recent study, where it was shown that airport charges at the largest 21 European airports had increased dramatically by 80% since 2005 despite the average price of airline tickets falling by approximately 20%.
“At the 10 largest airports the increase was even greater, close to 90%,” he made clear, adding that: “These increases mean that passengers have had to pay an extra €5.4 billion in airport charges over the last 10 years.”
While the group encouraged the “EU to take action lowering the cost of the EU’s airports by ensuring that monopoly airports are effectively regulated,” the Airport association ACI Europe rejected their demand for increased regulation, with its Director General, Olivier Jankovec, stating:
“These airlines are building their unity on our back – as they are unable to come together on major strategic policy issues such as Open Skies, let alone foster wider aviation industry alignment. For them, airports are just scapegoats.
“Their tired call for even more regulation of airports is just about boosting their profits – or supporting their own lack of competitiveness. There is absolutely nothing for the consumer with this agenda – let alone for Europe’s connectivity. The airlines are wilfully ignoring today’s market reality of ever-increasing airport competition.”
A4E also intends to target air traffic control unions with Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s CEO, saying “we want to eliminate air traffic control strikes that affect thousands of passengers,” adding: “We expect to see action this year.”
O’Leary wants to see rules drawn up to enforce arbitration before strike action if agreement cannot be reached between opposing parties.