PARIS: Major airlines are seeking operating subsidies for key routes once coronavirus restrictions are lifted, a leaked lobbying document shows, stoking tensions with some low-cost carriers that are less likely to benefit from the additional funds.
Route subsidies feature on a list of financial support requests circulated among airline members of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
“Airlines will need support to maintain their networks, which play a critical role in driving the world’s economy,” Geneva-based IATA states in the 12-page digest of “key messages” for airline public affairs executives to take to governments.
The support can be offered “either through a rebate on landing charges per flight or via a direct subsidy per available seat kilometre until markets have been stabilised”, it adds.
IATA spokesman Chris Goater confirmed the authenticity of the document, which was first reported by Unearthed, an environmental news service funded by campaign group Greenpeace. “It’s a private document for our members,” Goater said.
Operating subsidies would add to tax breaks, charge deferrals, loan guarantees and other forms of government support given to airlines crippled by an unprecedented near-total shutdown of air travel in the face of the global pandemic.
But they may also strain industry efforts to present a united front amid growing dissent over aid and its effects on competition. Ryanair’s Lauda unit publicly urged Vienna on Thursday to withhold financial support from Lufthansa-owned Austrian Airlines.
“Not all airlines (are) in support of this initiative,” the IATA document states.
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