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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0329.PDF
FLIGHT, 16 March 1961 337 Fig 2. Charges as a percent- age of gross revenue 111 !C : M M ; ; : O.5 - r 8 | y. dToi-L •"••""" y CHARGES I TAXES • TOTAL AIRPORT 1 CHARGES , FUEL 1 TAXES INCLUDED — n... 111111 ...illlllllllllllll 1 56 O7 1 8 1 r 18 ll 1 2B r 16 - 1 34 r ia 1 .0 n 26.9 16.92 : ; 7.0 6.5 6 O 5.5 5.0 4.O 3.5 3 0 fW^f^-^'^WW^W losses on the operation of the UK aerodromes, without taking intoaccount the community benefits arising from the existence of air- ports in the country, particularly international airports. In myhumble opinion the Government should absorb a large proportion of the costs, because of the benefits derived. It has to be realizedthat most of the airlines are already operating with the narrowest of profit margins and for some of us these increased landing chargesmay mean the difference between profit and loss. The airlines are very sensitive to cost increases and particularly to those beyondtheir control, because they are in a critical state of development with the introduction of jet aircraft. . . ." This extract is fully representative of the line which has beentaken by almost every airline senior executive, and by IATA, in recent months. But not one of them has been realistic enough toadmit that the airlines are directly responsible for the increased fees. They fell over themselves to buy the new jets, replanned theirschedules in feverish competition with each other to offer increased capacity and then, when the novelty had worn off, found in somecases that they had over-estimated demand, under-estimated costs and run into financial difficulties. Now, having made it necessary foralmost every country throughout the world to increase the size of its airports and augment its navigational aids, they find to theiramazement that some of these countries are being mercenary enough to try to recoup some of the money which the airlines haveforced them to spend. It is then that they talk aboui -community benefits" and try to convey the impression that they are beingpenalized in their attempts to bring tourists into the country. They also maintain that their efforts to reduce fares are beinghindered. Published methods which administrations employ to get backsome of their money are shown in the accompanying charts, which are based on a complete revision of the tables* and chartspublished in Flight for April 17,1959—but with one major addition. This time fuel '•throughput charges" and non-refundable fueltaxes have been included. There was insufficient information in 1959 for a representative picture to be given. Brief notes on thevarious types of charges in use may help to clarify both the charts and, when they appear later (see footnote below), the tables:—Landing fees These are usually based on unit cost per ton (long, short or tonne metric), or per 1,0001b or by weight brackets. Anexception is Portugal, which uses horse-power as the basis. Fees frequently differentiate between domestic, continental and inter-continental traffic. Overflying charges In general these are raised against an aircraftwhich makes use of facilities within a country or along a route. Shannon was a pioneer of this system, but here the operator facesan unknown factor. The individual charge is based on the monthly * The new rabies will, it is hoped, be included in "Flight's" " World Airlines Survey'" on April 13, 1961. cost of running the station divided by the number of contacts madeduring the month. That is reasonable so long as there is plenty of traffic, but it could be a little hard on an operator if one of hisaircraft was the only one to make a contact during the month. Because of this unknown factor the entry in the table for Irelandwill be incomplete. Malta charges £2 for a similar service. Air navigation charges These are usually an addition to a landingfee, or a combination of overflying charge and navigation charge, or—as in the case of Australia—a combination of all three. Thevarious routes within Australia are listed and to each is allotted a "flight factor." The aircraft pays a fee at the rate of so many penceper thousand pounds of aircraft weight multiplied by the flight factor. Canada has a particularly heavy charge; in addition to atelecommunications fee of S20 there is a route facilities charge of S64 for a landing after, or take-off before, a flight crossing theAtlantic, Pacific, Caribbean or polar regions. Thus a round trip London-Montreal-London would pay the double charge atMontreal. Chile uses a scheme based on charges for radio beacons plus acommunications charge, based on aircraft weight, for every mile flown, plus surcharges for night flights. They have an additionalcharge which others might consider—an hourly charge for calling search and rescue units into operation because of failure to notifyflight plan changes. There is a brighter side—all Chilean flying club and pleasure aircraft are exempt from all charges. Mexico raises charges for navigational aids, meteorology, airtraffic control, and so forth; once again the entry in the tables will be necessarily incomplete. Passenger service and/or cargo handling charges These are toowell known to call for comment. The highest fee appears to be £1 per head at Bermuda.Ticket taxes These are gaining in popularity (with governments) and increasing in severity. They take the form either of a fixed-value stamp tax on every ticket sold or a percentage levied on the price of the ticket, or both. Airport departure fees, as distinct fromservice charges, are also included under this heading. The most oppressive rate of tax appears to be levied in Israel, where the levyon locally purchased tickets for residents is 55 per cent. Having arrived in Israel one would seem to have a strong inducement tostay there. Peru takes 4 per cent on all tickets bought locally for destinations abroad, plus 4 per cent airport tax on tickets forabroad, plus 2 per cent tourist tax for international flights starting from Peru and 10 per cent domestic travel tax on ticketswherever issued or paid for. Fuel throughput charges and fuel taxes Fuel throughput chargesare a direct levy on the operator in respect of every gallon of fuel, or oil, supplied. The proceeds go, usually, to the airport admini-stration. Some countries publish their throughput charges quite openly and one then knows where one stands. Others publishnothing and conceal them within the airport fuel concession contract.
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