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Tuesday, March 13, 2007 Canada charging airport
authorities too much, IATA head says
Canada - The Vancouver SunBy Bruce Constantineau VANCOUVER - Federal rents charged to Canadian airport authorities are a "rip-off" and airport security charges in Canada amount to "sky-way robbery," International Air Transport Association director general Giovanni Bisignani said Monday. Bisignani told a Vancouver Board of Trade luncheon that Canadian tax revenue from aviation rose nearly 20 per cent a year between 2001 and 2005, reaching $800 million annually. "If Canada is serious about aviation as an economic driver, this must change," he said. "A good place to start is Crown rents at airports - a $300-million burden than only has an equivalent in Ecuador and Peru. It's a rip-off." Bisignani said the federal government has collected more than $2 billion in airport rent since 1992, on assets that were valued at just $1.5 billion when they were transferred to local authorities. Vancouver Airport Authority paid more than $76 million in rent to Ottawa last year while Pearson Airport in Toronto paid about $150 million. Pearson "is famous in the world for being the most expensive place to land a 747," Bisignani said. "A third of the charge is just to pay the rent." He urged Ottawa to eliminate Crown rents and give Canada's aviation industry "a fair chance" to compete globally. Bisignani said the Canadian government has turned airport security into a "profitable business" since implementing airport security charges after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He noted the government collected $1.25 billion in security charges between 2002 and 2005 but spent only $820 million. "I will be polite and characterize this sky-way robbery as very unfair to passengers," he said. "It's time for the federal government to accept the cost burden of aviation security." IATA predicts the global airline industry will post a $2.5-billion US profit this year, following six straight years of losses totalling more than $40 billion US. "The ink is the right colour but it's still peanuts," Bisignani said. "No investor is going to get too excited by a 0.5 per cent return on revenues. We need to be at seven or eight per cent (a profit of $40 billion US) just to cover our cost of capital." IATA - which represents 250 global airlines from 136 countries - will hold its annual general meeting and World Air Transport Summit in Vancouver from June 3 to June 5, an event expected to attract more than 150 airline chief executive officers. Do you have an opinion about this story? Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php ***************************************** |