Until now, Switzerland has been one of the few countries at the heart of the European continent not to belong to the European Union. On the other hand, the Swiss Confederation is aware of its dependence on the EU, sharing borders with four EU countries, not to mention economic exchanges. with the EU. In 2014, 55% of Swiss exports went to the EU, while 73% of Swiss imports came from the EU.
Switzerland has therefore signed bilateral agreements with Brussels to adopt and benefit from certain advantages similar to those granted to members of the Union, such as the free movement of people when entering the Schengen area, and in air transport. These relatively liberal agreements between Switzerland and the EU come at a price. Switzerland "contributes" to various cooperation programmes with the European Union, having paid out more than 1.2 billion Swiss francs (€1.11 billion) in 2015, for example. A situation that should be watched with interest by the United Kingdom, a priori on its way out of the European Union following the referendum leading to "Brexit".
The 1999 Air Transport Agreement between Switzerland and the European Union was signed in 1999 and came into force on 1 January 1999.er June 2002. In fact, it follows a period of considerable turbulence in Swiss airspace, culminating in the bankruptcy of the national airline Swissair in 2001. The agreement was applied gradually. Initially, it superseded all the bilateral agreements between Switzerland and each member of the European Union. Since 2004, it has been extended to allow Swiss carriers to benefit from rights almost similar to those in force for airlines registered in the European Union. Among the most important measures, Swiss airlines enjoy the same rights to freedom of the air as EU airlines, particularly those relating to the carriage of passengers within the EU. In fact, Swiss airlines enjoy almost perfect equality of treatment compared with their EU counterparts.
Freedom rights for Swiss airlines in the European Union
- 1st freedom: overflight rights;
- 2nd freedom: non-commercial stopovers (e.g. for repairs);
- 3rd freedom: flight to the EU (e.g. Geneva-Paris);
- 4th freedom: flight from the EU (e.g. Paris-Geneva);
- 5th freedom: flight to the EU with a stopover and boarding in the EU (e.g. Zurich-Vienna-Rome);
- 6th freedom: flight between two destinations in the EU with a stopover and boarding in Switzerland (e.g. London-Zurich-Berlin);
- 7th freedom: flight between two destinations in the EU (e.g. Madrid-Athens);
- 8th/9th freedom: "cabotage", i.e. a domestic flight operated by a foreign airline (e.g. Zurich-Paris-Lyon: 8th freedom or Paris-Lyon: 9th freedom).
As a result, Swiss airlines enjoy complete freedom in Europe to set their own fares, capacities and destinations. The integration of Swiss air transport into Europe has had a favourable effect on the development of the country's air transport industry. In 1999, the year the Swiss-EU Open Skies Agreement was signed, the Swiss Confederation recorded 31.6 million passengers. In 2005, a year and a half after the agreement was put in place, there were 30.8 million passengers. Since then, the numbers have soared. In the space of a decade, traffic in Switzerland has jumped by 60%, reaching 49.4 million passengers last year. Basel/Mulhouse and Geneva in particular have benefited from the upturn in air traffic. From 2005 to 2015, Basel/Mulhouse more than doubled its traffic (+115%), from 3.26 million to 7.03 million passengers, while Geneva saw its passenger traffic increase by 67.5%, from 9.36 million to 15.68 million. By comparison, Zurich recorded a smaller increase of 47%.
Europe accounts for the bulk of Swiss airport traffic. In 2015, passenger volume accounted for more than 81% of all traffic, well ahead of Asia - the second most important continent in terms of volume - with a market share of 8% and North America with 6%.
In the event of a Brexit, one of the airlines most affected in Europe would probably be the low-cost carrier Easyjet, which maintains 24 bases throughout Europe and has announced that it now wants to acquire an AOC (Air Operator Certificate) so that it can continue to operate within Europe. The company currently has two AOCs, in Great Britain and Switzerland. Easyjet Switzerland, a subsidiary of Easyjet UK, is demonstrating the validity of the liberal open skies system set up between Europe and the Swiss Confederation. The company is the main competitor to the national carrier Swiss, with a passenger market share of 23%.
Basel/Mulhouse and Geneva benefit in particular from the very dynamic presence of Easyjet, which maintains two bases there. Easyjet is the largest carrier in Geneva and Basel/Mulhouse, with a fleet of 23 aircraft in 2015. In Geneva, Easyjet's market share was 43.2%, in Basel/Mulhouse 54%. In 2015, Easyjet inaugurated 11 new routes from Switzerland.
In Geneva, the carrier is linking the capital of French-speaking Switzerland with 73 cities this summer. Between France and Geneva alone, Easyjet offers routes to 10 French cities. Basel/Mulhouse is linked to 53 cities. The airport has seven Easyjet routes to France and six to Germany.
The activity of Swiss airports outlines what could be the future of Great Britain's air traffic within the European Union. European Union airlines have already expressed the hope that the current open skies regime within the EU and its associated partners will not change. Everything will now depend on the negotiations that are about to begin between the United Kingdom and the European Union.
