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The Air Transport Action Group (ATAG) expressed its
opposition to the Japanese government's plans for privatizing Japan's three
major airports and urged reduced charges to keep Japan's airports
competitive.
Speaking at a conference in Tokyo ATAG Director Martina Priebe said that
"only a user-driven approach to privatization will permit the development of
an appropriate infrastructure and keep charges at levels which are
acceptable. Privatization must not be an excuse to bail-out troubled
airports at the expense of consumers and the airlines."
The Japanese Government is considering a privatization plan that would
create three private companies to operate terminal buildings at Narita,
Nagoya and Kansai while consolidating the land development function in a
single public corporation. "Such a plan would see airlines landing at
Narita, subsidizing facilities they are not using at other airports. This is
clearly against internationally agreed principles and absolutely not
acceptable," noted Priebe.
As the Japanese Government is considering its 8th Five Year Airport Plan,
ATAG urged that better demand forecasting practices be implemented. Failure
to revise demand forecasts based on actual developments during the
implementation stage of the planning has led to over-building of
infrastructure in many areas.
"Previous airport development plans have run
into severe cost and efficiency problems simply because they failed to
estimate and adapt to changing market requirements."
ATAG is a not-for-profit organization promoting the sustainable and
efficient development of airport infrastructure. Its membership broadly
represents all parts of aviation with funding mainly from the International
Air Transport Association (IATA), Airbus, Boeing, CFM and Rolls Royce.
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