Page 26 - AAA SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013 Online Magazine

OPINION

yOu SAy I SAy

Airlines are bad business, financially. Indian operators
are sinking slowly into the tarmac. Even Ryanair is
cutting some services. Why? All the players are blaming
each other, but the biggest sticks are reserved for the
monopolies – national airlines, entrenched booking
agent operators, airport authorities, and the like – which
are tagged as the ogres with feet of clay stopping cheap
aviation becoming ubiquitous. Who is right?

“There are parts of the industry – such as some major
airports or computer reservation system providers – that
have exploited their monopoly position to derive returns or
impose charges that are wholly unjustified by their level of
efficiency or by the risks they bear.”

– Giovanni Bisignani, former DG and cEO, IATA

“If Kingfisher Airlines is not in a position to run on a
financially viable basis, then it should find its own way –
close down, merge, whatever. But there is no case for a
government bailout.”

– yashwant Sinha, former Indian finance Minister

“Collaboration between airports and airlines
to forge non-aeronautical, revenue-sharing
agreements will be essential for this [revenue]
strategy to succeed.”

– Amadeus reservations report, Reinventing the Airport Ecosystem

“Effectively managing aviation infrastructure – efficiently
allocating access to current resources, investing in
technology and physical capacity improvements at airports
and in the air traffic control system […] is likely to be one of the
greatest challenges.”

– Severin Borenstein and Nancy L. Rose, Regulatory Reform in the Airline Industry

What’s your view? Log on to www.asianairlines-airports.com and let us know what you think.

26 ASIAN AIRLINES & AIRPORTS SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2013 WWW.ASIANAIRLINES-AIRPORTS.COM