Geneva Airport has raised concern after the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) opened a consultation regarding the revision of the ordinance on airport charges.
The airport said this ordinance governs the setting and levying of charges by airports to airlines for the use of those airport facilities which serve the “purpose” of flight operations as well as for access to these facilities.
Geneva Airport continued: “In general, these charges allow airports to contribute to the financing of infrastructure and to the compliance of such infrastructure. In this respect, they are essential to the development and the sustainable financing of airports.
“In what concerns Genève Aéroport, these charges contribute significantly to its turnover, just as the revenues from commercial activities. Genève Aéroport is facing significant investment needs in the coming years, given the necessity to upgrade its infrastructure to meet current and anticipated platform requirements.”
Geneva Airport said the calculation of airport charges relies on the recovery of the costs related to aviation activity, to which a portion of non-aeronautical revenues contributes.
The airport added: “The desire to allocate a substantially higher portion of non-aeronautical revenues to the financing of aeronautical activities, as proposed by the draft of the new Ordinance submitted for consultation, would significantly limit Genève Aéroport’s investment capacities in the future.
“This would be detrimental to both the quality of services provided by the airport and its ability to set up infrastructures to reduce noise pollution for its neighbours.
“Moreover, the entire Geneva International community and the companies in the region would be affected, since Genève Aéroport would no longer be able to meet the expectations of these key players; this deterioration in its offer would not be without consequences on Genève Aéroport’s ability to fully assume its federal concession.”
The airport said it will articipate in the consultation, to share its position with FOCA.
This article was originally written by Justin Burns, associate editor of Airline Ground Services.
