10 February 2011
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) Director General, Giovanni Bisignani, has criticised the UK Government’s aviation policy and urged it to improve its global competitiveness in air transportation. The airline association said it should take a global approach to aviation and climate change, reducing taxes, changing the economic regulatory structure for airports, and developing a proper strategy to safeguard the economic benefits of aviation.
Mr Bisignani stated in a speech in London that the UK has a great tradition of leadership in aviation. However, he felt that the industry has taken many knocks that could ultimately cause permanent damage, and he relied on the unqualified economic benefits provided by aviation as the basis for wholesale protection of the industry.
SASIG agrees that the global connectivity supplied by aviation to this island nation needs appropriate policy support, but disagrees with IATA on the detail of that policy.
Mr Bisignani said the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness report ranks the UK last out of 133 countries for cost competitiveness, 129th on fuel prices, and 121st on ticket taxes and airport charges. He said: “The economic regulatory model for airports is broken and must be urgently fixed,” adding that Heathrow was now considered to be a secondary hub.