Germany’s intention to increase its air traffic control service charges to airline by 16.6% from January 1, 2015 has been described as an “outrageous price hike”, which is almost 40 times the rate of the Euro area inflation.
The heads of the European Regions Airline Association (ERA), the International Air Carrier Association (IACA), the European Low Fares Airline Association (ELFAA), the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) and the Association of European Airlines (AEA) have calling on the European Commission and European Union member states to send a clear message to air traffic control providers that the performance scheme must be respected and reject the performance plans due to be submitted by Germany at the January meeting of the Single Sky Committee.
Commenting on the proposed increase, the heads of ERA, IACA, ELFAA, EBAA and AEA say: “This price hike makes a mockery of the European Commission’s efforts to control the cost increases of air traffic control through the EU performance scheme. It is a clear case of a monopoly service provider abusing its dominant position. Airlines and, inevitably, the end user - the consumer - will be forced to pick up these costs with absolutely no associated increase or improvement in the level of service provided by Germany. This is a sad day for European competitiveness and the urgently-needed efforts to improve the efficiency and lower the unjustified cost of European air traffic management.”