High airport fees blamed for BWIA=92s woes By Marisa Camejo Express High airport fees at Piarco International Airport are affecting BWIA's=20 profitability, according to International Air Transport Association (IATA)= =20 Director General and CEO, Giovanni Bisignani. In his first news conference= =20 of 2003=97held jointly with BWIA president Conrad Aleong at Hilton Trinidad= =20 yesterday=97Bisignani noted that the airline industry must address specific= =20 problems to combat the major financial crisis it now faced. Controlling=20 balance sheets was at the top of the list. User services, which include=20 airport fees and air traffic control costs, accounted for US$40 billion=20 last year, with international services alone totalling US$15 billion. In=20 Trinidad and Tobago, airport user fees might be higher than they ought to=20 be, Bisignani observed. He also said the local air traffic control=20 telecommunications system needed to be upgraded. He was due to meet with=20 junior Finance Minister Kenneth Valley yesterday to discuss the matter. Insurance costs also affect the airline industry, with US$5 billion paid=20 annually. Bisignani specifically complained about insurance companies=20 abruptly giving the industry "a 30-day notice of cancellation of third=20 party insurance after the events of September 11, 2001". "Security is a=20 government issue, and not one that should be addressed by the airlines.=20 Security in airports, train stations, soccer stadiums, all fall under=20 government responsibility," complained Bisignani as he cited another hurdle= =20 faced by the industry. He noted that US$3 billion was spent on security in= =20 2002. Referring to consolidation of airlines as a "measure that was almost= =20 always the answer to cost-cutting", Bisignani said although he understood=20 the pride involved in a nation's ownership of an airline, "flag-waving=20 should give way" to more prudent measures if airlines were going to=20 survive. "Governments cannot consistently fund or bail out their national=20 airlines. It's more important that an airline have a future, the flag=20 approach is not acceptable any more," he said. IATA, founded in 1945, is=20 the prime vehicle for inter-airline co-operation in promoting safe,=20 reliable, secure, and economical air services for the benefit of travellers. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.hilofoodstores.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************