Airports Council International (ACI) World issued a new resolution, Restoring Economic Equilibrium, that urges governments to acknowledge the changed risk profile of airports due to the pandemic and to provide support to restore economic equilibrium for unrecovered costs, either as financial compensation or through airport charge adjustments.
The new resolution follows a similar call from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) that recognized the need for an ongoing review of ICAO’s Policies on Charges for Airports and Air Navigation Services.
ACI-World said the pandemic-triggered global decline in traffic, which fell 61 percent in 2020 relative to 2019, has had a lasting effect on revenues, which in turn triggered capital expenditure reductions. Furthermore, where government financial support or other relief measures were insufficient, many airports also had to re-finance their operations, creating a mounting debt burden, the organization said.
