Jake's View | Crying big tears over those vain private jet business travellers
Don’t pity them over their woes, just charge them the going rate by auctioning landing slots
The plans – which include more take-off and landing slots for the growing number of high-flying business executives and tycoons for whom normal air travel is not an option – follow a row over abuse of the current system for booking runway slots.
SCMP, June 2
What abuse? Our government underpriced landing slots for private jets at the airport and an unofficial market then arose to push those slot prices back up to where they belong, with private speculators pocketing the difference.
Transport Chief Anthony Cheung Bing-leung says he recognises the positive impact of the business aviation sector. What positive impact?
There is an easy solution for our bureaucrats if they don’t like the thought of speculators making money this way, price those slots at their true value from the start. The only abuse I see here is the abuse of the public’s right to be fully compensated for the use of public assets.