'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.