IATA takes another state to court over airport fees

The world's airline association IATA has carried out its threat to take the Argentinian government to court over the charging structure proposed for the country's airport operator AA2000. This dispute particularly involves the country's main gateway Buenos Aires airport and is being supported by ALTA, the Latin American Airline Association.
The move is the third time IATA has taken legal action against what it says are flawed airport deals: in June it took the French government to court over its fee hikes at the Paris airports, and in May it filed a case against the Dutch government's charging increases at Amsterdam Schiphol airport.
The issue in Argentina dates back to 1998 when the government privatized the country's airports creating AA2000. The complaints against AA2000 and the government already fill several pages of IATA documents, but include price discrimination between foreign and domestic carriers and against the structure of a renegotiated contract between the two players.It really does make for some gruesome reading. Speaking at a global IATA press briefing today (12 December), the association's director general Giovanni Bisignani said: "There is a cosy relationship between the airport and government. That is going to turn a failed privatization into a disaster."
The Argentinian case is a political hot potato, partly because the government plans to take an equity stake in AA2000. In fact the issue is so sensitive in Argentina that IATA has had to previously unheard of lengths. When Bisignani went to testify at a hearing in Buenos Aires about the airport contract he had to have body guards, and the association has had to have special phone lines installed as it suspected it was being bugged.