AEA: Ireland determined to become a no-fly zone?

Association of European Airlines condemned a plan by the Irish Aviation Authority to increase fees charged to airline customers by 17% in 2010 and stated that cost-recovery pricing was a "substantial contributor to the industry's financial difficulties and an obstacle to recovery". The AEA also added that the EUR10 travel tax has contributed to a fall in passenger numbers of 15% at Irish airports this Summer.

AEA: "Air navigation providers, along with some other elements in the air transport value chain, have the ability to recover lost revenues and lost profits by jacking up their prices, because they are monopolies, not governed by the discipline that a competitive market imposes. A cost-recovery pricing regime offers no incentive to cut costs or improve efficiency," Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus, Secretary General. Source: AEA, 04-Nov-2009. [more]