Airports warn of 30,000 job losses

Europe's airports and airlines joined forces yesterday to warn of up to 30,000 job losses if the EU proceeds with its abolition of duty-free sales The claim was made here at a press conference given by the International Duty Free Confederation (IDFC) based on research done by independent consultants which underlines previous studies on the effects on the ferry industry. Duty-free sales are to be abolished for intra-EU travel from June 1999 - the trade was worth £1.4 billion in 1995. Mr Frank O'Connell of the IDFC said that "the duty-free business is an integral part of the economics of air and sea travel". He warned that ticket prices to customers would inevitably rise. And, in the case of particularly vulnerable charter flights, they would increase by between £10 and £15 per passenger as airlines would have to make up for both increased ground charges, likely to be up between 20 and 40 per cent, and lost in-flight sales.

The report says that the greatest loss per passenger would be in the Scandinavian market "where the loss in sales is estimated at £45 per round trip passenger, equivalent to a £22.50 loss in profits per passenger".

The result, Mr O'Connell said, would be a loss of viability for many regional airports and airlines. Charter traffic was also likely to switch to non-EU destinations, he claimed. Investment in new runways or facilities would inevitably have to be postponed or financed by governments.

He called on the Commission to conduct its own research into the effects of abolition.

Ms Brenda O'Brien, of the Federation of Transport Workers' Unions, said their members were strongly opposed to the abolition and were exploring "all possible areas of common action" to resist the move. She said that it was particularly ironic that the EU's Social Affairs Commissioner, Mr Padraig Flynn, responsible for employment, was from Ireland, which would be worst-affected by the decision.