Mexico may reduce airport use fee by 8% to 12%, top official says

Mexico is looking to reduce an airport usage fee by 8%-12%, a top official told Reuters late on Wednesday, providing clarity into the government's plans following airport groups' complaints of "unilateral" changes being made to their operations. Mexico is aiming to reduce the airport-usage fee, also known as the TUA, but "it's still up for negotiation," Deputy Transportation Minister Rogelio Jimenez Pons said. Travelers pay the airport-usage fee as part of the cost of their plane ticket and operators pocket the funds. It adds about $22 to more than $60 to the price of an international flight and about $8 to $40 for a domestic ticket, depending on the airport. The reduction of the fees, some of the highest in Latin America, is meant to cut ticket costs for consumers and boost air travel in the country, Jimenez Pons said. Fees should be cut by the first quarter of next year, he added. Jimenez Pons clarified that the usage fee for government-controlled airports, which includes the country's busiest, the Mexico City International Airport, are also set to be lowered. The reduced tariffs are part of an overhaul on the five-year plans airport operators have with the government. ASUR, which operates nine airports in southeast Mexico, said earlier this week the draft for its next plan had to be scrapped after the tariff change announcement.<br/>