AAPA Criticises Government Imposed Obstacles to Aviation Industry Development

Airlines in Asia Pacific are at the forefront of innovation and are now playing a major role in global industry developments, but are still hampered by the straitjacket of overreaching government policies, particularly from the United States and European Union.

"Aviation is a force for good, fostering business, educational, social and cultural links. Working together, we can bring further benefits to the global community. Asia Pacific airlines and our many partners, are committed to playing an important role in shaping the future of this always exciting and dynamic industry," said Mr Andrew Herdman, AAPA Director General. "The bold initiatives being taken by Asia Pacific carriers to change the competitive landscape offer great promise to the travelling public, but governments seem oblivious to the counterproductive impact of never ending new legislation and taxation."

In an endeavour to challenge government constraints with renewed vigour, the following resolutions were passed at the conclusion of the 56th AAPA Assembly of Presidents in Kuala Lumpur.

Environment

Whilst economic measures have a valuable role to play in addressing aviation's environmental impact, Europe's unilateral attempt to impose the EU ETS on foreign carriers has led to a firestorm of complaints and threats of retaliatory action from other governments.

ICAO is currently evaluating the potential use of market based measures to mitigate international aviation emissions, with a view to providing recommendations to the next triennial ICAO Assembly in September 2013. In the meantime, aviation and the wider travel and tourism industry continue to be subjected to a growing patchwork of national or regional measures, including arbitrary and sometimes punitive taxes, that offer no real environmental benefit.

AAPA is therefore calling on the EU to postpone the inclusion of international aviation in the EU ETS, pending international agreement. At the same time, AAPA is also calling on governments to work within the auspices of ICAO towards an effective multilateral agreement on a global sectoral framework on aviation and the environment that will accommodate the special circumstances and respective capabilities of States.

Taxes

Some revenue hungry governments worldwide still view aviation as a tempting target for arbitrary taxes, despite aviation's vital role as a key driver of social and economic development worldwide. Airlines and the travelling public today already bear the burden of numerous taxes and charges imposed by governments, as well as monopolistic service providers and other agencies.

AAPA is now renewing the call on governments to carefully consider the overall economic effects of putting further financial strain on the travelling public and on the aviation industry, and to refrain from increasing the burden of aviation levies in any form.

Passenger Services

The air transport industry is a highly complex and interdependent system in which multiple stakeholders including governments, regulatory agencies, airlines, infrastructure operators and other service providers work closely together to ensure the smooth functioning of the overall system. Air travel can occasionally be affected by factors beyond the control of the stakeholders, but the industry has demonstrated the ability to cope with and recover from various crises.

Despite this, several governments have implemented or are proposing to introduce overarching rules governing the  treatment of passengers in the event of disruptions, even if these are caused by factors outside the control of airlines.

AAPA says it believes that introducing legislation with the simplistic aim of eliminating infrequent service failures can have unintended consequences for the smooth functioning of the overall air transport system to the detriment of the travelling public, including increasing the overall cost of air travel.

Instead, AAPA is calling on governments to recognise the role of a competitive marketplace in incentivising airlines to respond effectively to evolving customer needs and expectations on service quality.

AAPA is also calling on government authorities to refrain from introducing legislation that would act as a disincentive to airlines to continue to compete freely on differentiated customer service standards.

Passenger Facilitation

With nearly 3 billion passengers travelling worldwide by air annually, government agencies, including immigration, customs and health departments play a key role in all countries in facilitating the smooth flow of passengers and cargo by air.

Despite the mandatory provision to governments of detailed information about passengers in the form of Advance Passenger Information (API), as well as the use of interactive automated passenger pre-clearance systems, air travellers are too often faced with lengthy processing times on arrival at airports.

AAPA is calling on government agencies to consult widely with the aviation industry in order to strike a better balance between national border control objectives and the need for efficient passenger facilitation, and to ensure that sufficient resources are allocated towards both inbound and outbound passenger processing at border controls, taking into account the growth in passenger numbers over time.

Safety

Air transport remains one of the safest forms of travel, thanks to close cooperation between industry and governments, coordinated internationally by ICAO, resulting in ever improving standards over the past decade. Despite this, the US and EU governments have taken it upon themselves to enforce stricter regulations on selected foreign carriers, including the introduction of operating bans.

AAPA says it strongly objects to such an approach and is calling on the US and EU governments to refrain from the unilateral imposition of punitive measures and restrictions on foreign carriers when the real concern is with perceived inadequacies of regulatory oversight by foreign governments.

Security

The carriage of passengers and cargo by air is extremely secure, yet current security procedures do not appear to properly balance risks against costs and inconvenience to the travelling public.

Given widespread international dissatisfaction with the current approach, AAPA is urging governments to instead develop and implement intelligence-led, outcome-based, security measures that more realistically balance risks against the costs and inconvenience imposed on the travelling public.

On air cargo, AAPA says it firmly believes that the robustness of the international air cargo supply chain depends on a web of trusted relationships amongst the many stakeholders involved.

In the face of further attempts by the US and other governments to impose unilateral new cargo security measures, AAPA is calling on governments to recognise the benefits of adherence to common global standards established by ICAO, and mutual recognition of respective aviation security regimes, thereby responding more effectively to the needs of the air cargo supply chain.

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