TOKYO – The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has delivered a sharp message to Japan’s aviation authorities, urging them to rein in costs to remain competitive.
Following a meeting with Seiji Maehara, Japan’s Minister for Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, IATA chief Giovanni Bisignani applauded the country’s vision to increase the competitiveness of Japan’s air transport sector with more efficient infrastructure.
But Bisignani warned, “To turn the vision into reality, urgent action is needed to address cost issues.â€
He urged the government to re-think the JPY2,400 per tonne charge for international operations at Haneda Airport.
“Charges must follow ICAO principles. That means transparent charges, no cross subsidisation and consultation with users.
“International and domestic operations use the same infrastructure. There is no justification for international charges to be higher. In fact, the increased traffic should reduce unit costs,†said Bisignani.
“Setting such a high charge for Haneda ignores the natural impact of added capacity to reduce unit costs. And it misses a great opportunity to drive efficiencies at both Haneda and Narita which should compete on costs and services to serve the Tokyo market.
“Moreover, these airports must be able to compete for hub traffic at Hong Kong, Incheon, Shanghai and Beijing to serve the growing Chinese market.
“But that won’t happen with costs double that of successful airports like Singapore’s Changi,†said Bisignani.
IATA said airlines could not continue to pay for airport infrastructure that is developed for political purposes.
“We need, for example, to sort out the situation in the Kansai region. The five runways of Itami, Kansai and Kobe serve 36 million passengers a year.
“Singapore runs its successful hub serving 37 million passengers on just two runways and with much cheaper costs,†said Bisignani.
