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Airline CEOs accuse airports of abusing market power
Airline bosses have accused airports of charging excessive charges and abusing market power.
CEOs of airlines including Air France KLM, easyJet, IAG, Jet2.com, Lufthansa, Norwegian, and Ryanair – who are all members of the aviation lobbying group A4E, met in Brussels and discussed the findings of a study showing the high levels of profitability enjoyed by Europe’s largest airports.
According to the report, the average pre-tax profit margin of York Aviation’s sample of airports was 46%, significantly higher than the 23% margin of the top 100 airports referred to by the EC in its 2015 Aviation Strategy.~
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More than 85% of the entire sample of airports generate what could be called ‘supernormal’ returns.
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"The European Commission’s (EC) current regulatory evaluation process is an important step in addressing the abuse of market power by some European Airports," said Thomas Reynaert, A4E’s Managing Director.~
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"We look forward to concrete outcomes from this process, proceeding to the formulation of the new legislation necessary to tackle the supernormal returns by airports, which are bad for consumers, bad for tourism, bad for national economies. We call on the EC to accelerate its evaluation. We must proceed now from analysis to action."
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A4E said the existence and proliferation of so-called ‘Dual-Till’ airports, which don’t re-invest profits from commercial activities such as shopping or parking in order to lower charges, demonstrates that airports don’t operate in a competitive market and abuse their market power.
"We are strongly convinced that Single Till is the model which benefits European passengers most and should be introduced across the continent," said Reynaert.
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Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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