ACI EUROPE: Regional airports call for concerted effort to bring down ‘visiting costs’
ACI EUROPE stated (16-Mar-2010) regional airports are now in a prime position to contribute to the economic regeneration and development local communities. According to ACI, with the LCC business model becoming dominant on intra-European routes and the prospect of further aviation liberalisation across the Mediterranean and to the East of Europe, the potential for further growth is clearly there. As a result, ACI EUROPE called on regional airports to keep airport charges at competitive levels. [more]
ACI EUROPE: "For all regional airports, keeping what we call 'visiting costs' - the overall costs of using the airport - at competitive levels is a matter of do or die. This requires a holistic approach and the cooperation of all actors involved - airlines and air traffic control (ATC), but also regulators at all levels. It is of course primarily about airport charges and the kind of incentives that we can offer to airlines. But it is equally about avoiding increases in ATC charges at airports, as well as costs induced by security and safety regulations...Apart from these regulatory issues, some low cost carriers seem to ignore that our own ability to offer competitive charges is fundamentally linked to our ability to generate commercial revenues. This means that overtly restrictive one-cabin bag rules which depress retail activities at airports must be eliminated," Olivier Jankovec, Director General. Source: ACI EUROPE, 16-Mar-2010.
LFV: "To unleash the potential of Europe's regional airports, we need to move on from regulatory and operational frameworks that tend to be based on 'one-size fits all' - and which too often result in disproportionate costs for these airports. Every region of Europe is different and every airport is different too. More tailor-made regulatory and operational frameworks are required to put regional airports in a condition to boost their competitiveness," Olle Sundin, Managing Director. Source: ACI EUROPE, 16-Mar-2010.