Rajeev K. Manocha
rajeev@indiaah.in

Calling upon wisdom
The development of tourism industry is based upon the overall progress of its various parts and segments. For the last decade, Airlines have played a major role in enhancing tourism and extend the reach of travel even of the common man who never dreamt of air passage before that. But the Airlines have been battered by the great force of the global recession over the past one and a half year, with airline revenues taking a double hit from both lesser travellers and lower gains. Although there are some signs of a minor recovery, airline revenues remain under immense pressure. In spite of valiant efforts to cut costs by many airlines, aviation sector is still suffering heavy losses.
                One of major factors of the sorry plight of Airlines is the indiscreet policies of Governments. Their continuous interference and inefficiencies in the areas of taxation, environment, air traffic management, infrastructure and passenger facilitation place a big burden on aviation industry. The industry is united in its commitment to its ambitious and customer oriented targets but is being held back by the failure of governments to resolve major differences between the views of developed and developing nations. Even without the tremendous pressures placed on airlines over the past eighteen months of the global recession, the industry rarely achieves strong returns on invested capital. This consideration is often ignored by many governments which still target the air transport industry as a cash cow and convenient revenue collection mechanism. Government charges a big amount on ticket price as taxes, even though the industry pays separately and in full for its own infrastructure.
                We, as part of travel industry, call for a fresh approach from governments and regulatory agencies to provide more freedom and efficiency for carriers to help build a stronger and more sustainable industry in the long term. The governments should adopt a globalised approach to aviation, instead of a patchwork of unco-ordinated schemes and arbitrary levies that will fail to achieve the desired goals in a cost effective manner.
                We also support the development of a regional framework that will address the air traffic management infrastructure, needed to support future regional industry growth in an efficient and cost effective manner. The governments have to recognise the true costs, both direct and indirect of implementing various rulemakings and the corresponding impact on the travelling public and to consider the benefits of broadening the use of technologies, including self-service facilities, advanced security technology to improve the efficiency of passenger facilitation.
                In the current times of global recession, the restrictive government policies and inefficiency remains a clear obstacle to recovery. While tourism industry grapples with this multiplicity of commercial challenges, governments appear oblivious to the calls of the aviation sector which is one of most important part of the industry. In order to achieve long term sustainability and growth, it is now time for governments to wake up to the idea of removing policies that have inhibited development for decades.”