AIR CARGO OPERATORS OPPOSE NEW KAA CHARGES
Attempts by the Kenya Airport Authority to milk operators as an aviation source put it, follow hot on the heels of similar attempts by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority to raise fees and charges.
If KAA could produce a good product, if they had kept pace with demand by creating more facilities and not lagging behind by years we could discuss this but they are incompetent and greedy. Our airport is overcrowded and KAA should show us operators what they do with the money they already get. It is like a stable full of manure and has to be cleansed of bad characters and deadwood. But like KCAA they also cannot appreciate economic pressures operators are faced with and if at all there are consultations we are expected to listen to them like pupils in a class room, there is no genuine dialogue and they never take any of our points on board said a regular aviation source from Nairobis Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. We uplift cargo on our regular passenger flights and it will drive the cost of shipments up, and for cargo airlines even more so. They should take a leaf from what is happening in the Gulf where governments attract airlines by giving excellent facilities and attractive fee levels. But here it just seems aviation is a cash cow they can milk but never feed the same source then added, claiming that the entire aviation fraternity was opposed to the proposed new charges by the KAA but also of the KCAA and that every legal avenue will be exhausted to stop them from unilaterally imposing higher fees and charges on the industry.
Kenya Airways will be affected by the move as it is in its final stage to officially launch a dedicated B747-400F soon to be followed by at least two B737F aircraft, as higher cost of air cargo out of Nairobi will have an impact on demand as it increases the landed cost of air cargo at the final destination, driving prices up at a time when the global economy is showing signs of slowing and potentially returning into recession.
Official explanation by both KAA and KCAA are rising cost, a widening gap between income and expenses and the very long time since charges were last revised, dating back in some cases to the mid and late 1990s. Watch this space for regular updates from the East African and Indian Ocean aviation scenes.
