Low-cost airlines could start avoiding Polish airports as fees increase

Representatives of the European Low Fares Airline Association (ELFAA), whose members include low-cost carriers such as EasyJet, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Ryanair, Sky Europe and Wizz Air, recently participated in a session of the Sejm's subcommittee for air transport and voiced their concerns.

Among their complaints was the fact that the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PAŻP) raised terminal navigation charges in regional airports in January 2008. Some of these hikes were balanced by a reduction of route navigation charges, but according to ELFAA, its member airlines will have to pay a total of E8 (zł.28) million more in terminal and route fees. ELFAA appealed to Parliament to change PAŻP's fee policy.

"A drastic rise in operating costs in Poland puts a question mark on the profitability of routes to regions in Poland. Wizz Air reduced the number of planes in its Polish bases and moved them to Ukraine and Romania, while Ryanair froze negotiations on its base in Poland," Juliusz Komorek, chairman of a task group at ELFAA and Ryanair's regulations director, told WBJ.

"The price policy of PAŻP could lead to low-cost carriers withdrawing from less-profitable Polish routes," he added.

PAŻP has said that the change in fees was a result of EC requirements that introduced a single-charge system, and was also due to the integration of Poland into the Central Route Charges Office of the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation. The agency has also underscored that navigation charges proposed for 2009 are lower than this year's charges.