Will we soon get a cup of coffee at Ben Gurion Airport at a decent price and not for 15 NIS as sold today? After many years during which consumers have been paying high prices for food and drinks - Consumer Council CEO calls Airport Authority and other public bodies to monitor prices, prevent prices from skyrocketing and avoid exploiting customers as if they were captives.
Representatives of the Airport Authority, the food chains operating at Ben Gurion Airport and the Consumer Council, who attended a debate that took place in the Knesset, agreed that a number of products would soon be under the supervision of the Airport Authority.
Israel Consumer Council CEO, Adv. Ehud Peleg, called the Knesset to convey a binding message to public bodies such as the Airport Authority, which are primarily public trustees and not business partners of concessionaires, who share with them their profits at the public expense.
"Sky prices are skyrocketing. The General Accountant has issued an instruction concerning public bodies and captive audience, but the directive is not implemented. The area is public domain: the public is also a partner in what is happening there. This partnership should also be reflected in sharing profits through subsidization of products prices. The Airports Authority receives the area from the state and uses this space as a basis for good benefits and salaries. Where is the payment to the public: through thoughtfulness of price rate or guarantee of reasonable prices?"
Peleg also claims that the consumers at Ben Gurion Airport are in a situation of captive customers. After some have been driving for hours, waiting hours and before a long flight, sometimes with companies that do not serve food and drinks, how to ensure that this situation is not exploitation through high pricing?
The expectation from the Airports Authority as a public body operating a public domain is that they will integrate a condition into the tenders determining an upper limit to prices that may be charged, at least on some of the products, while this upper limit will guarantee reasonable prices for consumers. Is it happening?
