Air, Freight News

Caspian can be exasperating, says Coyne chief

[ October 30, 2013   //   Chris ]

Customs red tape and costly airport charges are hampering airfreight potential, Coyne Airways director told the Caspian Air Cargo Summit in Baku, Azerbaijan on 29 October.

“We sometimes experience a series of frustrating obstacles that make doing business here expensive,” she said. Traffic rights can be an issue and airport costs are sometimes “baffling and exorbitant,” she added.

Airports in the area could learn a lot from Coyne’s Caspian hub, Tbilisi, in neighbouring Georgia, from where Coyne operates services to 14 destinations in the region.

“Tblisi is the beneficiary of its open policy,” she said. “It has a good Customs regime, reasonable airport costs, and doing business is easy. “The downside is too much capacity.”

Coyne said her wish list for the region would include fewer restrictions on flight permissions, more transparency in airport charges, a reduction in transit charges for trucking, a reduction in Customs red tape and other restrictions in line with World Customs Organisation guidelines, and investment in infrastructure.

Laura Coyne was on a panel on the oil and gas industry and air cargo in the CIS, part of the three-day Caspian Air Cargo Summit 2013, organised by Euroavia International and Silk Way Airlines.

Tags: Caspian, Coyne Airways, Laura Coyne, Tblisi