Contemporary issues faced by airport industry
1. Security
2. Accidents and safety
3. Convience and competitiveness
4. Financial issues
5. Sustainability
6. Fuel issues and overcapacity
Issues of airline industry
- The rupee depreciation is hitting carriers hard. About 25-30%
of their costs, excluding fuel, are dollar denominated—from
aircraft lease rents and maintenance costs to ground handling and
parking charges abroad.
- Aviation turbine fuel(ATF) prices constitute about
40% of costs for an Indian carrier and are taxed higher here than
anywhere else in the world. The Centre charges 14% excise duty on
ATF. The states pile on their own sales tax that can go as high as
29%.
- The intense competition among domestic carriers, the need to
capture a slice of the ever expanding market and passenger price
sensitivity makes the airlines difficult to raise ticket
prices.
- The new civil aviation policy (NCAP) 2016’s regional
connectivity scheme doesn’t help. The ticket price caps it imposes
under the scheme, the fact that the viability gap funding will last
only for three years and various operational issues such as the
lack of slots for connecting flights at major airports are a
hindrance.
- Rules such as route dispersal guidelines (RDG) that mandate
airlines to fly a certain percentage of flights in smaller,
unprofitable air routes is archaic in nature.
- The projected growth in capacity, because of plane orders, will
lead to a 14% shortfall in commander pilots, a part of which will
have to be fulfilled by more expensive expatriates, leading to a
rise in the wage bill, the second biggest cost chunk after fuel.
Issues of aircraft manufactures Key challenges that emerged from
the workshop and that are discussed include understanding
manufacturing trends; manufacturing globalization; information
technology opportunities; maintaining innovation; strengthening
small and medium-sized enterprises; workforce education; and rising
infrastructure
- Issues of airline safety
- Lithium batteries — This threat includes issues related to the
safe carriage of lithium batteries as cargo on passenger and
freighter aircraft, inside checked passenger baggage and among
passengers’ carry-on effects.
- RPAS/UAS — This threat includes issues accompanying the safe
integration into civilian airspace of unmanned aircraft systems
(UAS) — commonly referred to as “drones” and also called unmanned
aerial vehicles and remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS).
- Infrastructure and capacity — Aviation growth, particularly in
the Asia Pacific region, is in many ways outpacing the ability of
regulators to maintain effective oversight and surveillance. Growth
also has an impact on the availability of qualified labor.
- Lasers — Laser strikes are a concern around the world and a
particular threat to pilots and aircraft operating at low
altitudes.
- Cybersecurity — This issue involves a growing concern about the
secure interconnectivity of airborne and ground-based systems.
Regulatory and enivornment issues
The other various environmental issues in
aviation industry are- energy consumption,
emissions, climate change, noise, fuel efficiency and emission
control. Defined, or noise preferential routs (NPR) is a measure to
mitigate noise pollution especially around
airports.