Resumption of air traffic: European airports want their piece of the cake

Like the feeling of being deprived of the fruits of recovery. As global air traffic moves ever closer to the pre-pandemic era, European airport companies feel cheated. At its annual congress, Airports Council International (TIA) that brings together most of the airport companies on the planet, thus showed some annoyance.

Airport companies believe they are under pressure from inflation, rising interest rates affecting their loans, and the colossal future costs of decarbonizing them. At the same time, they lament that they don’t get enough from airlines that fill up with passengers, passengers who have never paid so much for their tickets.

Royalties ‘have fallen in real terms’

“Despite the fact that the price of air travel for consumers has skyrocketed, the fees paid by airlines for the use of airport facilities tend to remain below cost coverage,” laments Olivier Jankovec, Managing Director of ACI Europe with AOF (Option Finance).

European airports continue to show a net profit of 6.4 billion euros in 2022 after a loss of more than 20 billion euros during the pandemic.

Therefore, the manager demands an increase in the airport tax paid by each airline, a tax levied on each ticket sold. “Regulators and governments must accept that cost pressures and investment needs require an upward adjustment of airport charges,” continues Olivier Jankovec.

In the end, it is the passenger who will pay

The organization highlights that the current context is hampering present and future investments. The ICA estimates that spending in Europe will increase to 18,400 million euros for the period 2023-2025, while the previous forecast was 34,600 million.

One thing is certain, if this fee increases, it is the passenger who will ultimately pay for it, enough to make tickets a bit more expensive, which are expected to increase even more in the coming years.

A must for Augustin de Romanet, president of the Aéroports de Paris (ADP) group. “The absolute priority for air transport to be livable is that it be carbon free. There are two solutions, either the taxpayer pays 100%, or we agree so that the passenger contributes a little, ”he explained in BFM Business last February.