AEA slams "scandalous" fee rises

ATM systems need to be regulated

 The Association of European Airlines (AEA) has joined the industry criticism of increases in fees fro air navigation services describing them as "scandalous".

The Association, which represents most of Europe's leading legacy carriers, said the "price hikes" came when "the industry is in the depths of the severest crisis in its history".

The increases have already been critis8icsed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) which said they would add $360m to airlines' costs and were not acceptable.

The increases have been imposed by 19 of the 34 members of Eurocontrol, the organisation for safety of air navigation and which is also striving to create a single European sky.

The AEA said the increases were designed to recover any losses the individual countries had suffered because of the drop in demand for flying.

Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus, the Association's secretary general, said: "This ‘cost recovery' system is enshrined in the conventions which bind Eurocontrol member states.

"It offers no incentive whatsoever to reduce costs and increase efficiency, neither on the part of national systems nor of Eurocontrol itself.

"It is utterly anachronistic, reminiscent of the institutionalised protectionism which European airlines have left far behind.

"When the going gets tough for the airlines - and things have never been tougher than right now - they put their prices down, to keep their customers and to keep the cash flowing. 

"To put prices up in the current business climate would be commercial suicide. 

"But infrastructure providers do not behave commercially because they are not subject to the market.

"Only a monopoly can do this, and monopolies need to be adequately regulated."

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