The financial situation of airports remains “uncertain and challenging,” according to the director general of trade body ACI Europe, who warned that airport charges will need to rise.

Speaking at the ACI Europe/ACI World Annual General Assembly in Barcelona, Spain, Olivier Jankovec says that structural cost increases and revenue pressures have created an environment where the “current dynamic is not sustainable.”

He explains that European airports posted a collective net profit of €6.4 billion ($7 billion) in 2022—when passenger volumes remained 21% below pre-pandemic levels—after more than €20 billion in accumulated losses since 2019.

However, Jankovec stresses that European airport debts and liabilities are €47 billion higher than before the pandemic. He says that rising airport competition and pressure to keep charges low, coupled with “sky-high” airfares, means that user charges are not reflecting inflation. “In real terms, they're actually decreasing,” Jankovec says. “It’s an equation that doesn't work anymore, so we will need to increase our charges to users.”

According to ACI, European airports have already cut planned investments from €34.6 billion to €18.4 billion over the next two years. Jankovec says that while airport charges are up 7% compared with before the pandemic, airfares have risen by 32%.

“There really is only one logical way forward, and that is adherence to the user pays principle,” he adds. “Regulators and governments need to accept the fact that cost pressures and investment needs require an upward adjustment of airport charges.”

International Air Transport Association (IATA) Director General Willie Walsh has repeatedly hit out at airports hiking charges, saying in December last year that the industry “cannot tolerate a situation where airports attempt to gouge airlines and their passengers by significant increases in airport charges.”

At the IATA annual general meeting in Istanbul earlier this month, Walsh singled out Amsterdam Schiphol, accusing the airport of having “no shame.”