Albania, Armenia, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Sweden, Hungary and Turkey proposed the increased charges. On the other hand Belgium, Cyprus, Switzerland, Macedonia, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain proposed to freeze unit rates at 2009, while and Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, Greece, Malta, Moldavia Republic and Portugal proposed reductions below 2009 levels.
The highest increase was proposed by Armenia at 32%. Adjusting for the amount of traffic handled, the greatest impact of the increases will be felt by proposals for increases in Poland (+18%), Romania (+17%), Austria (+14%), France (+6%), the United Kingdom (+5%) and Italy (+4%). The main reasons for the proposed adjustments are directly related to the expected reduction in air traffic in 2010. With the reduced number of flights threat, most air navigation service providers wanted to make sure that they will not suffer from a major decline in profits. ”I applaud the 15 states that plan to reduce or freeze their en route air navigation charges. But the savings they delivered were wiped out by the out-of-control monopolists completely divorced from reality, proposing increases in the middle of an unprecedented industry crisis.
The impact of the 2,7% increase in unit rates is equal to adding 360 million US Dollars to airline costs, and that is not acceptable. To survive we need to cut costs. That burden must be shared across the value chain - including our ANSPs partners. The unacceptable and out of touch proposals from 19 Eurocontrol states and their ANSPs demonstrate beyond doubt that we must urgently implement a robust performance framework under the Single European Sky regulations,“ said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO.
