'Air travel costs may rise with terrorism fears'

'Air travel costs may rise with terrorism fears'

P. Parameswaran, Agence France-Presse, Cebu, Philippines

Asia-Pacific airline chiefs warned at annual talks here Friday that air travel may become more expensive if governments do not bear the cost of implementing aviation security measures to counter terrorist threats.

They said governments should shoulder the costs as security was a state responsibility.

Airlines and passengers were already paying excessive travel taxes and could not be burdened with additional costs, said the airline chiefs meeting for the first time after the deadly bombing in Bali on Oct.12.

"Aviation security and its funding, which includes the protection of its citizens in the air and on the ground, should be the governments' responsibility," according to one of eight resolutions adopted at the one day meeting of chief executives of 17 airlines under the ambit of the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines (AAPA).

The resolutions, among others, called for harmonized standards among international regulators to avoid mid-air collision, rejected a US proposal to arm pilots and other crew members as an additional safeguard against terrorist hijackings and called for a set of mandatory and harmonized global aviation security measures.

They also urged governments to allow greater competition in the aviation industry and wanted airport authorities to impose fair and equitable charges to airlines.

Shim Yi-Taek, president of Korean Air, said the terrorism threat had increased the risk of travel with insurance costs rocketing after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.

Citing the US which had slapped an additional premium of up to 25 dollars per air traveler following the Sept. 11 tragedy, Shim said Asian airlines might be forced to charge up to five dollars more for each passenger if the carriers remain saddled with security costs.

Richard Stirland, AAPA's director-general, said airlines were already giving big discounts on tickets and "a five or 10 dollar surcharge on tickets represents a pretty major percentage increase in cost.

"Obviously, the airlines will like to pass the cost through but whether they can be successful in doing that and retain the growth in the market seen in the last six and eight months is very problematic," Stirland told a media conference at the end of the meeting.

He said airlines had to implement a series of security measures, including fitting reinforced doors to secure the cockpit, establishing video surveillance of the cabin, liaising with airports on security immediately prior to departure and also cooperating with governments in providing additional information of their passengers.

Hiroshi Tanaka, deputy vice-president of Japan Airlines, said new aviation security measures should be standardized to reduce the costs borne by airlines and passengers.

Tanaka said it was becoming "very difficult" for the industry to cut costs due to poor coordination among countries on aviation security procedures.

"Our industry is highly automated but we have different procedures which needed to be standardized to reduce costs," he said.

AAPA's Stirland said increasing security costs might also take a toll on profits of Asian carriers slowly ejecting from turbulence after the Sept. 11 disaster.

The AAPA members are Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airways, Asiana Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, China Airlines, Dragonair, EVA Air, Garuda Indonesia, Japan Airlines, Korean Air, Malaysia Airlines, Philippines Airlines, Qantas Airways, Royal Brunei Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways International and Vietnam Airlines.