UPS and FedEx face a massive rise in airport charges at their respective hubs at Cologne/Bonnairport in Germany under plans to force airlines to use quieter and newer aircraft, especially at
night.UPS uses older MD-11 freighters for night flights at its European air hub while FedEx has a mixof B777s and other planes serving its Central Europe hub at the German airport.
Cologne airport announced yesterday that it plans to increase charges for loud planes from May2013 onwards, especially for night flights. Landing fees will rise considerably, depending on thenoise level, with the fees for night flights becoming twice as expensive as during the day. Thecharges for noisy planes will also be much higher than before.
The airport, located close to the neighbouring cities of Cologne and Bonn and nearheavily-populated areas, has to demonstrate every five years that it has reduced noise levels. Theregional government last year moved to impose a night flight ban on passenger flights at Colognebut promised to exclude cargo flights if noise levels were reduced.
“Along with the weight of a plane, the noise emissions will become the most important criterionfor the fee amount to be paid,” Cologne Bonn airport chief Michael Garvens said. “The increase innoise-related surcharges is an essential improvement of our noise reduction concept. Our goal is toachieve the required noise reduction through measures other than bans.”
Garvens stressed: “We are providing a targeted incentive for airlines to implement quieteraircraft at our airport and have seen first results already. FedEx is already operating half of itsflights with the Boeing 777.”
The new tariff regulation divides up the plans in 11 noise categories compared to sevenpreviously making the gap between the fees for loud and quiet planes even bigger. For example, thenoise surcharge for a noisy MD11 freighter will nearly triple during the day rising from theprevious €140 to €375. At night, the increase will be even more dramatic with the charge risingfrom €280 to €925. For a Boeing 747-400, the day charge will increase from €140 to €300 and thenight fee from €280 to €650.
For airlines deciding to use newer, quieter planes, the airport offers substantial financialincentives with potential savings of up to €1 million in three years if they use B777s, B747-800sor A330s. Six landings per week would generate savings of €985,000 if using a B747-800 and €875,000for a B777.
In response to the new regulations, a FedEx Germany spokeswoman told CEP-Research: “FedEx isconstantly working on reducing noise levels around airports by modernising the aircraft fleet toinclude more efficient and quieter aircraft like the B777F. The B777F is the most modern plane inthe FedEx fleet and we currently operate three B777F out of Cologne. In comparison to the MD-11,the B777F can transport almost seven tons more freight and fly nearly 3,900 kilometres farther, andall this with lower fuel consumption. In addition, the B777F produces 18% less carbon emissions andis significantly quieter.”
FedEx replaced MD-11s with B777s on three long-haul routes serving Cologne last year, meaningthat half of its 76 weekly flights are now operated with the newer freighter type.
A spokesman at UPS Germany declined to comment on the increased tariffs. UPS, which is due tocomplete a $200 million hub expansion at Cologne at the end of 2013, has about 38 flights a nightat the airport.
The new tariff regulation is subject to approval by the transport ministry of North-RhineWestphalia. The landing charges at Cologne Bonn Airport were last raised in 2001.
