Wole Shadare 
Amid calls for nations to reduce airport charges and others that are inimical to the development of air travel, Airport Company of South Africa and Ethiopia’s Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSP) are among examples of infrastructure service providers looking to hike their fees to recoup lost revenues.
Air traffic Management (ATM) provided by air navigation service providers (ANSPs) is the invisible part of the air transport value chain, but it is the essential enabler for the air transport system.
Consequently, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has called out the two nations for adding more pain to travelers at a time the sector is pushing for recovery occasioned the devastating COVID- 19 . The Director-General of IATA, Willie Walsh, warned that planned increases in charges by airports and air navigation service providers (ANSPs) will stall recovery in air travel and damage international connectivity.
Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) is asking to increase charges by 38 per cent in 2022, while Ethiopian ANSP is raising charges by 35 per cent. In Nigeria, the Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) is the sole Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP), but it is not known how much the agency charges for its services.
By way of context, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is requesting to increase charges by over 40 per cent over the next three years; Heathrow Airport is pushing increase charges by over 90 per cent in 2022, while NavCanada is increasing charges by 30 per cent over five years.
Walsh said last week that while Heathrow and Schiphol have reduced their increases, now is not the time to burden airlines with costs. Airport and ANSPs should cover them by calling governments for help by providing loans, said Walsh.
The Managing Director of NAMA, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, recently said only an effective peer review of safety systems and procedures among ANSPs in the region could enable Africa to build upon its rising safety profile and make the continent more competitive in the global aviation industry.
He said the time had come for African ANSPs to harmonise and synergize their safety systems and procedures by bringing members up to speed with industry best practices with the ultimate goal of achieving a single African sky.
The ANSP charges have already reached $2.3 billion. Walsh warned that further increases could be ten-fold this number if proposals already tabled by airports and ANSPs are granted. “A $2.3 billion charge increase during this crisis is outrageous. We all want to put COVID- 19 behind us.
But placing the financial burden of a crisis of apocalyptic proportions on the backs of your customers, just because you can, is a commercial strategy that only a monopoly could dream up. At an absolute minimum, cost reduction — not charges increases — must be top of the agenda for every airport and ANSP. It is for their customer airlines,” said Walsh.
A case in point is European air navigation service providers. Collectively, ANSPs of the 29 Eurocontrol states, the majority of which are state-owned, are looking to recoup almost $9.3 billion (€8 billion) from airlines to cover revenues not realised in 2020/2021. They want to do this to recover the revenue and profits they missed when airlines were unable to fly during the pandemic. Moreover, they want to do this in addition to a 40 per cent increase planned for 2022 alone. “Today I am ringing the alarm.
This must stop if the industry is to have a fair opportunity at recovery. Infrastructure shareholders, governmental or private, have benefited from stable returns pre-crisis.
They must now play their part in the recovery. It is unacceptable behavior to benefit from your customers during good times and stick it to them in bad times. Doing so has broad implications.
Air transport is critical to support economic recovery post-pandemic. We should not compromise the recovery with the irresponsibility and greed of some of our partners who have not addressed costs or tapped their shareholders for support,” Walsh said.
Some regulators already understand the danger posed by the behavior of infrastructure providers. Regulators in India and Spain successfully intervened on the increases proposed by airports.
