Why You Pay Tax At Airports

LET me firstly thank you for the opportunity granted in your newspaper to respond to the letter from one Andreas Vaatz that appeared in your Friday, 9 September 2005 edition under the heading ‘Airport Tax – For What?’.

The Namibia Airports Company Ltd wishes to clarify the negative allegations raised pertaining to “prices” that are “exorbitant” in our Namibian circumstances. Our response emanates from our conviction that the content and context of the letter is both largely misleading and factually incorrect, as it might have been prepared out of misinformation.We would herewith like to correct facts and put a few things into perspective: Passenger charges are payable by departing passengers only, hence when a return ticket is bought it includes the passengers taxes of the other airport of departure upon the passengers’ return i.e.Cape Town International Airport in this case.The allegation of passenger charges of N$500 for “nothing than to walk through the airport twice” is without basis.Our charge for departing passengers to South Africa and other members of (Southern African Customs Union) SACU is N$151-25 and if you are interested in divisions that would give you N$75-63 for “two walks”.What is included in the passenger charges is not only what you consume when you are facilitated through an airport but rather what has been set at the disposal of passengers/airport users.The NAC would like to bring to the attention of Mr.Andreas Vaatz that passenger charges include fire and rescue services, security, maintenance and development of the airport facilities, which come at a cost.The NAC is subject to conformance with rigorous aviation standards, requirements and audits from international organisations such as ICAO.In line with contemporary airport management approaches, airport companies/authorities do not do everything at the airports themselves, but rather through respective airport concessionaires and lessees.The issuance of boarding passes and the placement of strips on baggage are done by “ground handlers” and not by the Namibia Airports Company, as inferred by Mr.Vaatz.The NAC has on its cards the extension of the current terminal building to create more user/passenger capacity.This project is known by all airport users attending our monthly facilitation meetings at Hosea Kutako International Airport.With regard to the “grand shops that you are not allowed to use”, the NAC wishes to concur that we indeed have “grand shops”, thanks to our concessionaires and retailers, although the variety of shops remains a challenge due to limitations of terminal building space.A restriction has been placed on some certain categories of goods – not all, to be purchased if you are flying to a SACU country.Similar restrictions would be applied on duty-free outlets, even at Cape Town International Airport.Namibia, just like South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland and Lesotho, is a member of SACU and has to abide by the SACU agreement.The flying public is still welcome to enjoy their shopping experience of a vast majority of products, within the regulations of SACU, when they travel through our airport.The NAC acknowledges that it has been experiencing problems with its public address (PA) system at Hosea Kutako International Airport, from time to time.The PA system at HKIA has been under constant adjustments, repairs and monitoring to give a better audio effect in all areas of the terminal building.The challenge has been to maintain an audio balance between areas with more echo effect (areas without a ceiling) and areas with little echo effect (with ceilings).We understand the frustration it may have caused and profusely apologise to Mr.Vaatz and any other airport user for the inconvenience caused at respective times of the P.A.malfunctioning.We are requesting the public’s patience while attending to this problem.The NAC remains committed to the growth and development of our airports despite the limited resources at our disposal, and you may agree with me that HKIA in 2005, for instance, is not what it was in 1998.As Mr.Vaatz is no stranger to the NAC, we would appreciate attending to his concerns on our airports on a one-to-one basis.Sikongo HaihamboSenior Manager: Business Development, Marketing & Corporate Communication Namibia Airport CompanyOur response emanates from our conviction that the content and context of the letter is both largely misleading and factually incorrect, as it might have been prepared out of misinformation.We would herewith like to correct facts and put a few things into perspective: Passenger charges are payable by departing passengers only, hence when a return ticket is bought it includes the passengers taxes of the other airport of departure upon the passengers’ return i.e.Cape Town International Airport in this case.The allegation of passenger charges of N$500 for “nothing than to walk through the airport twice” is without basis.Our charge for departing passengers to South Africa and other members of (Southern African Customs Union) SACU is N$151-25 and if you are interested in divisions that would give you N$75-63 for “two walks”.What is included in the passenger charges is not only what you consume when you are facilitated through an airport but rather what has been set at the disposal of passengers/airport users.The NAC would like to bring to the attention of Mr.Andreas Vaatz that passenger charges include fire and rescue services, security, maintenance and development of the airport facilities, which come at a cost. The NAC is subject to conformance with rigorous aviation standards, requirements and audits from international organisations such as ICAO.In line with contemporary airport management approaches, airport companies/authorities do not do everything at the airports themselves, but rather through respective airport concessionaires and lessees.The issuance of boarding passes and the placement of strips on baggage are done by “ground handlers” and not by the Namibia Airports Company, as inferred by Mr.Vaatz.The NAC has on its cards the extension of the current terminal building to create more user/passenger capacity.This project is known by all airport users attending our monthly facilitation meetings at Hosea Kutako International Airport.With regard to the “grand shops that you are not allowed to use”, the NAC wishes to concur that we indeed have “grand shops”, thanks to our concessionaires and retailers, although the variety of shops remains a challenge due to limitations of terminal building space.A restriction has been placed on some certain categories of goods – not all, to be purchased if you are flying to a SACU country.Similar restrictions would be applied on duty-free outlets, even at Cape Town International Airport.Namibia, just like South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland and Lesotho, is a member of SACU and has to abide by the SACU agreement.The flying public is still welcome to enjoy their shopping experience of a vast majority of products, within the regulations of SACU, when they travel through our airport.The NAC acknowledges that it has been experiencing problems with its public address (PA) system at Hosea Kutako International Airport, from time to time.The PA system at HKIA has been under constant adjustments, repairs and monitoring to give a better audio effect in all areas of the terminal building.The challenge has been to maintain an audio balance between areas with more echo effect (areas without a ceiling) and areas with little echo effect (with ceilings).We understand the frustration it may have caused and profusely apologise to Mr.Vaatz and any other airport user for the inconvenience caused at respective times of the P.A.malfunctioning.We are requesting the public’s patience while attending to this problem.The NAC remains committed to the growth and development of our airports despite the limited resources at our disposal, and you may agree with me that HKIA in 2005, for instance, is not what it was in 1998.As Mr.Vaatz is no stranger to the NAC, we would appreciate attending to his concerns on our airports on a one-to-one basis.Sikongo Haihambo Senior Manager: Business Development, Marketing & Corporate Communication Namibia Airport Company