Carrivick gets tough on aviation issues
Mike Carrivick has issued some strong words against the government and the EU as he leaves his post as BAR UK chief executive.
In his closing address, he expressed frustration and dismay on a number of key aviation issues.
Here’s what he had to say on:
A third runway at Heathrow
"We have seen so much prevarication and delay, that it makes the performances of ‘Yes Minister’ look like a class act. By the time any hub airport decision might be taken in 2015, a self-imposed delay of 12 years will have occurred since a comprehensive white paper in 2003, and that’s before any planning permissions have even been sought. A third runway at Heathrow is vital regardless of the ultimate decision about any new hub airport site. Looking back to this decade, future generations will shake their heads in disbelief that policy decision making took so long and the UK lost so much as a result."
Air Passenger Duty
"The Government hasn’t missed an opportunity to tax the airline industry as harshly as possible. The evidence is there that the economy and the UK’s international reputation are being negatively impacted right now. We are beyond the tipping point where the Treasury should abandon the further increase next April and ultimately reduce the tax to a fair and proportionate level."
EU regulators
"With power comes responsibility but in some cases it seems to be missing. Regulation EU261 on Denied Boarding is surely one of the most ridiculed pieces of legislation in history where the regulators and the courts have different interpretations. Forcing airlines to become insurers of last resort for any manner of events completely outside their control is not in the public interest or affordable by the industry. The regulatory authorities must undertake the responsibility to produce a revised regulation that meets the original objectives, but which takes away the patently unfair financial imposition which no other form of transport has to endure."
EU Emissions Trading Scheme
"Aviation is a global business but the EU does not appear to recognise this fact. The EU needs to accept responsibility in this impasse and show willingness to arrive at a solution."
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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