CPH and airlines team up to restart traffic
With the aviation industry on its knees due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Copenhagen Airport and the airlines have now struck an agreement that provides the necessary commercial framework for a restart of traffic and the route network at CPH. The agreement sets out prices and incentives for flying to and from CPH over the coming years.
In 2018, when Copenhagen Airports (CPH) and the airlines concluded a four-year charges agreement for using the airport infrastructure at CPH, no one could have foreseen a global healthcare crisis that left the aircraft idle and parked on runways, completely changing the conditions applying to the aviation industry.
In light of the COVID-19 crisis, therefore, CPH has negotiated an adjusted charges agreement that considers the new reality of aviation and creates a sound commercial framework for restarting the flows of incoming and outgoing traffic at CPH.
This is a restart which, in the short term, will provide an incentive for the airlines to start up sooner and which, in the longer term, will give CPH a better financial platform from which to build for the future.
The charges agreement has now been approved by the Danish Civil Aviation and Railway Authority in a very efficient process that allows the agreement to take effect already now, in March 2021, and expire 31 December 2023.
The agreement sets out the charges for using the airport runways, terminals and services. Charges have been kept stable relative to historical rates so as to ensure predictability for all parties involved, thus considering the interests of both network carriers and the airlines using the GO terminal.
Combined with various adjustments to the existing incentive programmes and the implementation of a new incentive programme for selected intercontinental routes, the adjusted agreement ensures that CPH will retain its competitive position as one of the cheapest major airports in Europe.
“Being a responsible company, we’ve carefully reviewed all our operations and plans in light of the past year’s market collapse with supply in abundance but no demand. The revenue we derive from our core business – aircraft carrying passengers – is the key component of our financial performance, so it was very important for us to reach an agreement with our customers that’ll enable us to build on a new foundation post-corona. It’s necessary both for the airlines and for us to have a foundation providing a stable framework. The adjusted agreement provides clarity, which is absolutely essential. For the entire industry, from this point on, it’s all about getting the passengers back,” says Thomas Woldbye, CEO of Copenhagen Airports A/S.