When is an airport departure tax not a departure tax? When it's called a "development fee!"
Living within just 10 minutes of my local airport, I can fly everywhere from Aberdeen to Australia without the need to endure the 3 hour trip (on a good day!) down the A11 then park for a while on the M25 while heading for Heathrow. I've always said it's easier to fly from Norwich to Jakarta via Amsterdam than it is to drive to Heathrow for a flight to Paris however, there's one major bugbear these days. . . . .
It's called the airport development fee and it's charged at £10 per adult passenger regardless if you are travelling to Edinburgh or long haul. Now I fully understand where the "original" development fee (£5 per passenger until last year) was spent. When I first flew out of Norwich in the early 90s, the airport wasn't much more than a large shed so I have seen huge changes in the passenger waiting areas and the catering has been improved at the check in area and air side. It's a shame that some of the development fees didn't extend to staff training and customer services though as I'm afraid my local airport leaves a lot to be desired in that department. Here's a challenge for you, take the 8.45 flight to Aberdeen and try and order a bite to eat if there are more than 3 people in the queue. Good luck with that!
I wouldn't mind paying this fee if the security procedures were a little quicker. Why does it take 30 minutes to clear a handful of people? Oh, wait, I can answer that, over zealous security who are more concerned with the contents of my wife's handbag than they are about my broadcast camera complete radio mic receiver and transmitter attached to the top. We play the "predictability factor" when we arrive at the airport and "handbag invasion" is always on that list. Quite what they think she can do with a lipstick is beyond me but I'm sure there is a good reason for this regular intrusion. Actually, most of the security people are really friendly but there's always the exception and there are a couple of . . . shall we use the word pedantic? staff on duty some mornings. No complaints about the check in staff though, it's just the cafe that needs to look at some customer interaction and perhaps employing enough staff to ensure that they can cope with the rush (?) when 3 flights depart within the same hour!
So it's not a "departure tax" as we recognise from many other overseas airports, it's not a voluntary contribution towards airport development as it's mandatory yet the airport appears to be "developed" so where does the £10 charge go? More to the point, if the charge can be increased by 100% in the space of a couple of years, what's to stop the airport owners increasing the fee to £20 or £50 within the next few years? How many business passengers will stop using their local airport because of this £10 stealth tax (sorry development fee!) and fly from Stansted, Luton, Heathrow or Gatwick? Not that many I guess so most of us just have to put up and shut up as we really don't have a viable alternative. In a nutshell, the development fee is a great business idea but not so good in the area of good will and public relations!
The comparison between domestic flights in the UK and Australia is interesting as you can check in, pass through security (complete with bottle of water over 100ml!!) and make your way to the gate within 20 minutes of arriving at Brisbane airport so why does the UK still insist on such strict restrictions at security? I realise that safety is the number one priority but can someone explain the difference in a sealed bottle of water purchased from the check in area (that's you can't take through security) compared to the same bottle of water purchased air side? Just a question. . . .
Talking about developments (do you see what I did there?) our bid to open an office in Perth Western Australia is now well and truly under way. We have engaged the services of a business agent who is working towards the correct visa that will allow us to maintain our operation here in the UK and start a separate branch of Media Answers in Perth. We have chosen that location for the obvious oil and gas links in addition to the mining sector and, having visited the area not long ago, are convinced that our courses and services will go down very well there. It's not a 5 minute process though and I'm sure the rain forest will take a real hit with the amount of paperwork involved but we are determined to have our office up and running there within the next 12 months.
We are also talking to potential business partners in Perth who may be interested in a joint venture operation over there so the next few months will be interesting to say the least. . . as will my next trip via Norwich airport no doubt after the link to this blog appears on twitter!!!
Mike Bennett is the director of Media Answers limited and has worked in broadcast media since leaving school almost 125 years ago! Radio broadcaster, interviewer, TV News cameraman, sports producer, live sports arena presenter and media trainer.