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Acsa must focus on travel facilities, not shopping malls
Acsa must focus on travel facilities, not shopping malls September 27, 2005 By Renée Bonorchis Airports the world over are works-in-progress. No sooner has an extra terminal been added or parking facilities extended than more terminals or parking bays are needed. This is obviously due to the steady increase in the numbers of people wanting to travel by air either within their own country or, increasingly, between countries. So it should be little surprise that Johannesburg International Airport ran out of parking facilities last weekend just a few short years after the completion of a huge new parking block. As a 20 percent owner of Airports Company South Africa (Acsa), the Public Investment Corporation will have to come to terms with the implications of this reality, which obviously points to the need for fairly constant investment to match the constant increase in demand for facilities. Another aspect of Acsa's business that will require constant attention is the increasing tendency for airports to behave as though they were shopping malls with the odd runway attached. In Acsa's case, this tendency might be heightened by its regulatory environment, which allows for charges to be based on a return on assets calculation. This means if Acsa builds huge shopping palaces, thereby substantially increasing the asset base, the regulator will allow it to hike its charges to the airlines, which inevitably means you and I pay more for air travel. Indeed, having shopping facilities at airports is of questionable value, especially for internal air travel. Acsa, as with almost every airport operator, needs to return to a focus on getting passengers through airports as effectively and easily as possible. To do this, they should pay less attention to the retailers and more to such things as the increasingly unpleasant facilities offered by customs. Hopefully management under the new structure will settle down quickly, but by all accounts Acsa will miss the extremely useful operational input that has been provided by Aeroporti di Roma over the past few years. |
What a load of horsesh....(you know the rest)!
If an airport has no other way of making money other than through aeronautical charges such as landing fee and PSC, then this is where they will find the money to build new customs facilities. This will result in higher costs for airline, high fares & less passengers! Airports need to increase non-aeronautical revenue through retail commissions, from shops, car hire and restaurants etc. This should mean they can reduce PSC charges and landing fees. The result being, lower charges to airlines, low airfares, more pax to through the airport, and so on and so forth! Any questions? |
Wrong!
All they are doing is spreading the customer base. Pilot's, airline companies, engineering, customs, excise, passengers, shop owners and so the list go on.
Like speed humps are for traffic calming, shopping malls and restaurants at airports are for passenger calming, as airport are the biggest waste of time ever and as a reporter this woman hasn't got a clue what she is talking about... BUT CHEAPER? Reduced PSC and landing charges, with ACSA? Not on your life! Everybody WILL pay maximum plus interest and then a little more. THH Seems like were smoking the same stuff as the stupid reporter who wrote the story...hehehehe:p |
You're right about ACSA! Being in virtual monopoly, they have no reason to cut charges. They can do what they like.
The market needs contestability! Wish I owned an airport. You never see an airport go out of business! |
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