Airport may raise fees
Passengers, airlines may have to pay more after regulator ups revenue cap
By Karamjit Kaur, Aviation Correspondent 
Passengers and airlines may have to pay more after revenue caps are increased. -- PHOTO: ST
PASSENGERS and airlines could be paying more for using Changi Airport after 2011, with the aviation industry regulator's announcement yesterday that the cap on the amount of revenue the airport can collect for every passenger will be increased.
It will be left to the newly formed Changi Airport Group (CAG), which operates the airport, to determine how much the charges should be, and when they should kick in.
It has till early 2011 to work that out with the regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), which will allow the operator to raise the maximum amount of revenue collected per passenger by 12 per cent, from $14.40 last year to $16.15.
Revenue per head is derived from a number of streams, such as passenger departure taxes, money collected from airlines in parking, landing and other charges; and others such as franchise fees paid by ground-handling companies.
Departing passengers now pay a tax of $20 at the three main terminals and $7 at the Budget Terminal. On top of that, they pay an $8 security fee.
The main terminal tax was increased from $15 to $20 in January this year.
The total tax payable at Changi Airport is higher than what some other airports in Asia, including Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok, charge but is almost on par with others like Tokyo's Narita and Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi.
In announcing the decision to allow the airport to collect more revenue per head after 2011, the CAAS said it took into account the existing two-year freeze on charges and the expected recovery in passenger traffic.
Last year, Changi handled 37.7 million passengers, but the global downturn has seen traffic tumble. For the first eight months of the year, 22.9 million passengers crossed Changi's aerobridges, 5.2 per cent lower than the January-August haul last year.
The airport authority said in February this year that it expects traffic for the whole year to be 8.5 per cent lower than last year's.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking...ry_437076.html 
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