Airport/Airline Relations: The foundation for collaboration

Thomas Windmuller, Senior Vice President of Airport, Passenger and Cargo Services at IATA, explains why co-operation and partnership should be on the agenda for modern airline-airport relations

Airports are airlines’ closest partners and vice versa. Neither can exist without the other. Airports enable access to the global network that the airline industry has built. But an airline’s ability to take advantage of that opportunity is determined by the level of expense incurred to serve the airport, measured against the revenue the route can generate. So a key challenge is to balance the cost of growth with the need for financial sustainability. This requires a stronger partnership approach which addresses functional and affordable airport design, a focus on service improvement for airlines and our passengers, and an understanding that financing and charges have to be carefully controlled.

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