Air fares could rise as airlines face €5.6bn bill for pandemic navigation losses

Airlines will foot a €5.6 billion bill for air navigation pandemic losses over the next five years, potentially adding to upward pressure on customer fares.

European air navigation authorities, including the Irish Aviation Authority, had to keep the skies open while Covid-19 grounded airlines, leaving them with little or no revenue to cover costs.

The European Commission is allowing these organisations to pass on the total €5.6 billion cost of this to all airlines using European airspace over the next five years.

[ EU official rules out law to ease air traffic control strike disruption ]

The move will add to airlines’ individual costs, opening the possibility that they may pass this on to passengers. Commission sources said on Wednesday that managing this would be an issue for each individual carrier.

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While many governments gave cash, loan guarantees and other aid to airlines during the crisis, they did not do the same with bodies responsible for air traffic control and navigation, even though travel restrictions starved them of revenue.

Air navigation bodies charge airlines for their services and their bills form part of carriers’ overall costs.

It is understood that the commission agreed that these organisations should pass the cost of keeping the skies open during Covid on to all airlines, as getting governments to foot the bill could result in non-EU carriers not shouldering their share of the cost.

The losses hit during 2020 and 2021, the years most affected by travel restrictions meant to stem Covid-19′s spread.

The total cost of maintaining air navigation services during that period was €9.2 billion a year.