[2020 National Audit] Aircraft Weather Information Recovery Rate Only 12% Compared to Production Cost

Yoon Joon-byung: "National Financial Burden Must Be Reduced Through Realistic Usage Fees"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] It has been pointed out that the Korea Meteorological Administration's (KMA) recovery rate of aviation meteorological information fees compared to production costs is only 12%, despite legal disputes with airlines over fee increases.

According to data on the 'Production costs and usage fees of aviation meteorological information over the past three years' submitted by the KMA to Yoon Joon-byung, a member of the National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, the production cost (direct and indirect costs) of aviation meteorological information from 2017 to 2019 was 18.956 billion KRW annually.

During the same period, the usage fees charged when international flights landed at domestic airports were 1.435 billion KRW in 2017, 2.286 billion KRW in 2018, and 3.266 billion KRW in 2019, totaling 6.987 billion KRW. Accordingly, the average recovery rate, i.e., the ratio of fees collected to production costs over three years, was calculated at 12.3%.

Considering that the entire cost of producing aviation meteorological information is funded by the national treasury, approximately 49.9 billion KRW, the difference between production costs and fees collected, was covered by taxes.

The KMA began charging airlines for meteorological information in 2005. After setting the initial fees (4,850 KRW for landing and 1,650 KRW for airspace passage), the KMA suppressed increases for over ten years, limiting them to inflation rates. However, in March 2018, it announced an administrative notice to raise the fees from 6,170 KRW to 11,400 KRW. The airline industry opposed this as an excessive increase and filed an administrative lawsuit, but in July, the Supreme Court overturned the second-instance ruling that partially favored the airlines and sent the case back to the Seoul High Court.

Assemblyman Yoon pointed out that aviation meteorological information fees per flight in major overseas countries are 128,000 KRW in Australia, 16,758 KRW in Austria, 44,000 KRW in Germany, 38,222 KRW in France, and 28,996 KRW in the United Kingdom, which are about 2 to 5 times higher than those in South Korea. He added, "Since public funds are being used due to the low aviation meteorological information fees, it is necessary to prepare measures to reduce the national financial burden through fee normalization."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.