TOKYO (AP) -- The air travel industry's growing battle to cut costs dominated international talks that ended Tuesday, as the business tackles rising oil prices, high security costs and the threat from new budget airlines.
Flying cheap was the big message at the two-day World Air Transport Summit in Tokyo, which drew about 600 representatives from airlines, civil aviation groups, manufacturers and other organizations.
In recent years, major air travel industry players have been hit by big losses and sometimes bankruptcy, as concerns about terrorism and competition from discount airlines have combined with the recent oil price surge to put a crunch on jet travel.
Representatives at the meeting also demanded that governments lower taxes and relax regulations to lower costs.
Nelson Ramiz, chief executive of Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela, said his airline was being hurt by government regulations requiring carriers to pay for problems the Ramiz said were outside carriers' control.
If a flight is delayed for more than two hours, the airline must provide a meal - even if delay is not the carrier's fault - Ramiz said at a panel discussion. Such costs will hurt consumers because they will trickle down to ticket prices, he said.
Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association, or IATA, said the group will keep pressing governments to change with the times and be more understanding of airlines' efforts to make flying simpler and cheaper.
''Go on shouting in a polite way,'' he told reporters, when asked what the group planned to do. ''We have to embarrass them with figures and facts.''
Jeff Katz, former chief executive of the online travel Web site Orbitz and now a Northwest Airlines board member, said the spread of Internet ticketing will help cut costs.
''This is the way the world will work 10 to 20 years from now,'' he said.
IATA - which represents 265 airlines and organized the Tokyo meeting - has been pushing for 100 percent electronic ticketing by the end of 2007.
It is also promoting bar-coded boarding passes and radio-frequency identification for baggage to improve efficiency.
Last year, airlines lost US$4.8 billion, and they expect to lose another US$6 billion this year. The fuel bill is expected to rise to US$83 billion this year from US$44 billion in 2003, according to IATA.
