IATA: Inertia preventing airlines from switching airports in Europe, while charges grow

31 October, 2017

IATA director general and CEO Alexandre de Juniac, writing on his official blog, reported (31-Oct-2017) passenger charges at European airports have grown from an average of EUR16 per passenger in 2006 to EUR33 per passenger in 2016. Mr de Juniac noted that even through the global financial crisis, airport charges rose unabated, "a clear sign of very strong market power" and there is "a lot of inertia" in Europe preventing any switch by airlines from large airports to smaller airports. He said the costs are high and developing a profitable route takes time. He added that in many cases the discussion is "only theoretical as finding a slot and terminal capacity at most European airports itself a big challenge". IATA called for ICAO's principles on airport charges to be followed, under which the charges are related to costs, transparent and non-discriminatory and agreed to through meaningful consultation between airports and their airline customers. [more - original PR]