'Air travel costs may shoot up with terrorism fears'
'Air travel costs may shoot up with terrorism fears'
P. Parameswaran, Agence France-Presse, Cebu, Philippines
Chief executives of Asia-Pacific airlines 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.
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.
"There are insurance products but at very high costs and some of the costs have already been transferred to passengers but we cannot do it continuously," he said.
Citing the U.S. which had slapped an additional premium of up to US$25 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.
He said immediately after Sept. 11 governments had provided financial guarantees to back up airlines reeling from soaring insurance costs but this had been discontinued.
"Security is actually everybody's responsibility, not just airlines and I think states should look at this very closely," said Philip Chen, chief operating officer of Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd.
"We think the governments should be responsible for security," said Richard Stirland, the director-general of the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines (AAPA), an umbrella group of 17 international airlines in the region.
The chief executives of the AAPA airlines meeting at the central Philippine island of Cebu will adopt a resolution Friday emphasizing the need for governments to bear the cost of a string of new measures being implemented to prevent terrorist attacks.
Stirland said airlines had to fit reinforced doors to secure the cockpit, establish video surveillance of the cabin, liaise with airports on security immediately prior to departure and also cooperate with governments in providing additional information of their passengers.
The Asia-Pacific airline chiefs are also expected to unanimously reject a U.S. proposal to arm pilots and other crew members as an additional safeguard against terrorist hijackings.
"We firmly oppose such measures because a pilot's duty is to fly an aircraft safely and it is not his duty to be engaged in armed combat," Andrew Drysdale, the Asia-Pacific director of the International Air Transport Association, who also attended the talks, told AFP.
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.
"The cost to airlines and passengers should be as low as possible but the basic cost of security should be borne by the government," 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.