Airport-related costs, such as landing fees and security charges, make up around another 10%.
The airport collects landing fees, fuel fees and ground-handling fees when airlines drop in unexpectedly.
There are moves to reduce transport costs by, for example, cutting landing fees at Sapporo's airport.
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"We'll tie it in with the hotels, " he said, "and we'll give them free parking and landing fees at the airport".
He added finally that, "should a UFO arrive at RAF Brawdy we will charge normal landing fees and inform you immediately".
While they clearly can't handle the additional traffic, airports are reluctant to give up the rents and landing fees that keep their runways and facilities in decent shape.
Last year Commodore Aviation packed up after 20 years at Miami International Airport to escape rising rents and landing fees as well as a dearth of high-skilled workers.
The FAA's argument is that landing fees make up only a small part of ticket prices, and that the proposed auctions will increase competition and push down prices.
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Airlines grouch that landing fees always rise at privatised airports.
But airport costs like terminal rents and landing fees and even the expense of buying or leasing jets, pale in comparison to the two biggest expenses at airlines: labor and fuel.
More has been spent on airports recently, thanks to aid from America and to the pressure of international air-safety groups, which try to ensure that aircraft landing fees are not spirited away by governments.
Airports used to make the lion's share of their money on landing fees and passenger taxes, but these days the money they earn from perfume, cappuccino and whiskey sales is becoming the biggest revenue generator.
In January, the company reported reported earnings for the fourth quarter of 2012 that were down 37.8% year-over-year, and attributed the slide in part to the higher cost of renting aircraft, landing fees and fuel.
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For remote airports such as Goose Bay and Gander, which have been largely bypassed in recent years by jetliners' longer range capabilities, fueling stops can bring in tens of thousands of dollars in landing fees and other revenue a month.
President Bush said other steps were under consideration to reduce crowded skies, such as charging airlines higher landing and takeoff fees at peak hours, and auctioning off landing and takeoff rights to the highest bidder.
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