"IATA's Bisignani pushes US officials to change course on congestion policy"

Thursday, November 29, 2007

IATA's Bisignani pushes US officials to change course on congestion policy
By Aaron Karp
Air Transport World


During a visit to Washington yesterday, IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani
urged US officials not to employ congestion pricing at crowded US airports
such as New York JFK and described President George W. Bush's recent efforts
to alleviate flight delays as "a political placebo for a serious long-term
illness."

Bisignani met with US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters yesterday morning
and, while telling reporters following a luncheon speech to the Aero Club of
Washington that it would be "inelegant" to disclose the substance of their
conversation, made it clear he believes DOT would make a major mistake if it
attempted to impose flight caps and "peak pricing" at JFK and other
airports. 

"Instead of addressing the problem, DOT wants to change the way people
travel by making it more expensive to fly at peak times," he said. "We don't
have one example of congestion pricing working anywhere in the world."

President Bush earlier this month signaled his support for congestion
pricing, comparing air traffic congestion to highway traffic alleviated by
giving drivers who pay more expedited access through toll plazas and
charging higher tolls during rush hour. "We are not running highways,"
Bisignani said, noting that the point of roadway congestion pricing is to
encourage commuters to use public transport. "If you are going to Europe
[from JFK], there is no bus. . .Congestion pricing [at airports] has failed
in a long list of countries."

He encouraged US officials to implement IATA's "worldwide scheduling
guidelines" at airports such as JFK and to make infrastructure and ATC
procedural improvements before next summer to avoid a repeat of last
summer's delays. He said it would be "shortsighted" and "foolhardy" to
attempt to implement congestion pricing at JFK and warned that could lead to
"retaliation" and "legal action" by foreign governments.

Bisignani added that airport security also is slowing down the system,
complaining that the US and other nations have made "too many knee-jerk
security enhancement decisions based on fear" and have failed to coordinate
their efforts across borders. "We need to cut through the government red
tape and focus on harmonized processes around the globe and push for
simplification," he said. "Risk management must replace fear." He noted that
the global airline industry spends $5.9 billion annually "to comply with a
growing list of security requirements."


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