This
week’s topic for discussion is how the United States can level the playing
field against foreign competitor airlines. With some of the foreign airlines
that are owned and operated by that countries government it obviously creates a
monopoly within the country. It is extremely difficult for other airlines in
the world to compete with this because of how much government funding the
foreign airlines receive.
In an article from SmarterTravel.com Ed Perkins does a good job breaking
down and using example on just how much of your total ticket cost is dedicated
to government taxes. although the taxes here in the united states are really
high in aviation in other countries if they do not charge you a tax for certain
things on your ticket you hit you other different types of fees, such as
departure fees that actually have to be paid in cash at the airport. It is very
obvious looking at this topic from the general public’s point of view how they
can be upset that a good percent of the price is not even going towards the
actual flight. But what the general public does not realize is that these taxes
are absolutely needed in order to maintain the current system the aviation
industry has in place.
Now
the question is what can be done in regards the United States tax policy in
order to level the playing field with our foreign competition. The first thing
that comes to mind is finding a way to reduce our taxes without it affecting
the yearly maintenance and upkeep of our airports, navigation systems, etc.
Another way to ensure the U.S. is more competitive is to increase the overall
experience during flights in other words make sure the customers feel from
quantity to quality. This in turn could increase the total business of the
aviation industry and in turn create more jobs for everyone.
The question remains - how do we increase the overall experience, specifically? Do we take similar approaches as Asiana Airlines? This airline offers a lounge specifically for disabled passengers, as well as in-flight magic shows and make-up events.
ReplyDeleteGood start, however, you could be more specific in how to reduce taxes. That is an obvious solution and the goal - but how? Also, your alternative solution, increase the experience, comes at a cost to the airline. I think with this subject, a real question is how specifically do you keep the system operating safely with a reduction in taxes.
ReplyDeleteI believe a good way to lower domestic taxes is for the U.S. to abandon all of the old, outdated and extremely expensive infrastructure. NDBs, VORs and LORAN to name a few are all extremely outdated in todays technology considering all of the capabilities of GPS. Why should the U.S. continue to shell out hundreds of millions of dollars every year to keep these archaic technologies running. Although when you start to cut systems like that all together, what happens to the thousands of workers who lose their jobs? Its a catch 22.
ReplyDeleteIf our government will have to reduce the taxes, where is the off-set income going to come from?
ReplyDeleteBy airlines in other countries not needing to worry about bankruptcy, this gives them a huge advantage over airlines in the U.S. Additionally I really enjoyed getting to see the breakdown of the airlines tickets and where the money goes, great find!
ReplyDeleteI think this in a way comes back to you can't spend money you don't have, clearly they need to lower taxes like everyone is saying but what are the alternatives and what alternatives are safe, abandoning all sorts of navigation devices that are out dated like NDB's, LORAN, and VOR's is a good idea but how much can we rely on GPS, all it takes is one large enough solar flare to down enough of the GPS satellites and again we have a safety problem.
ReplyDelete