"Historic", "revolutionary", a "first": there is no shortage of words in the joint declaration published on Wednesday at the end of the summit meeting in Brussels to emphasise its strategic and symbolic importance. Alexandre de Juniac (Air France KLM), Carolyn McCall (EasyJet), Willie Walsh (IAG), Carsten Spohr (Lufthansa), Michael O'Leary (Ryanair) The guest list is a testament to an event that is all the more crucial in that it breaks down the usual boundaries between 'traditional' and 'low-cost' airlines. The stakes are indeed high, at a time when the European Commissioner for Transport is already preparing a new European strategy. So the top 5 airlines will have to close ranks in order to have an impact, by targeting common strategic areas. Stated objectives: " support growth, create jobs, strengthen the sector and offer passengers lower fares and a more diversified offer ".
These are all noble challenges which of course require economic levers to be activated, starting with a reform of the directive on airport charges. Reducing the costs of airports in the European Union - by keeping a particularly close eye on hubs with monopolies - is therefore high on the list of the four measures put forward at the end of this European summit. The five airline groups are calling for better redistribution of sales revenue generated by passengers, and to more efficient use of security costs. In addition, Europe's top 5 are calling for the abolition of passenger charges and "abusive environmental taxes", and for the introduction of a "European passenger tax". reorganisation of the Single European Sky making greater use of new technologies.
"This is the first time that we have put aside our competitive battles to stress the importance of a new European strategy for air transport", the five CEOs jointly emphasised at the end of the meeting, which kicked off what is expected to be a period of intense lobbying of the new European Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc.
The "call from airline CEOs
in favour of a revolution in European aviation". :
The CEOs of Europe's five largest air transport groups (Air France-KLM, easyJet, International Airlines Group, Lufthansa and Ryanair) met today (17 June) for the first time and agreed to work together to promote a new European strategic model for air transport, which will support growth and create jobs across Europe, strengthen the sector and offer passengers lower fares and a more diversified offer.
This meeting was organised (in Brussels) following the consultation launched by Violeta Bulc, the new European Commissioner for Transport, on the implementation of a new European strategy for air transport. Together, the five CEOs decided on a new strategic model. This would be comparable to the revolution represented by the creation of the internal market for civil aviation, which enabled the liberalisation of air transport in Europe.
The five airlines have identified four measures that would meet the Commission's objectives of strengthening the competitiveness of the European air transport sector, both at European and international level, supporting growth and creating jobs throughout Europe, and benefiting customers by giving them access to a greater number of flights at lower fares.
These measures are as follows :
- Develop a new European strategy for air transport, with a plan for a simple and effective regulatory framework, which should enable European airlines to become more competitive, support growth and create jobs through innovation (e.g. Horizon 2020), defend consumer interests and increase efficiency to reduce costs.
- Reduce the costs of EU airports by ensuring that monopoly airports are effectively regulated, that passengers benefit fully from the commercial revenues they generate at airports, and that security costs are used efficiently. One way of achieving this would be to reform the Directive on airport charges.
- Establish reliable and efficient airspace by reducing the costs of air traffic control services, ensure that air traffic control operations do not disrupt flights in Europe, rethink the SES strategy by focusing on the use of new technologies to increase efficiency, and use the SESAR funding programme to comply with the SES regulatory framework.
- Support economic activity and job creation by putting in place an appropriate regulatory framework and abolishing abusive passenger charges and environmental taxes.
The five CEOs (Alexandre de Juniac, Carolyn McCall, Willie Walsh, Carsten Spohr and Michael O'Leary) set out their views: "Europe's airlines form the most competitive sector in civil aviation, their great diversity sustaining competition and offering consumers a wide choice. This is the first time we have put aside our competitive struggles to stress the importance of a new European strategy for air transport..
The liberalisation of civil aviation in Europe in the 1990s, with the creation of a fully liberalised single market with a comprehensive common regulatory framework 18 years ago, has considerably increased competition in the European market. As a result, consumers have been able to take advantage of much lower fares and a greater number of flights in Europe and the rest of the world. At the same time, EU airlines have maintained the same high safety standards. The range and quality of services on offer have increased and airline costs have fallen by 1 to 2 % per year over the last twenty years.
We hope that this reduction will now be accompanied by a reduction in costs over which the airlines themselves have no control.
The European Commissioner for Transport is currently preparing a new European strategy for air transport; it is important that she works towards greater competition and greater efficiency and that she helps us to reduce the costs of other areas of our sector (in particular monopoly airports and air traffic control providers) and to reduce the tax burden imposed on users".
Civil aviation is a proven driver of economic growth and job creation. The proposed measures would create hundreds of thousands of jobs (particularly for young people, at a time when youth unemployment is particularly high in countries such as Italy and Spain) and increase Europe's GDP. The group will submit these measures to the European Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc.
In addition to the proposed policies, the five CEOs confirmed their support for a number of key measures and principles that should contribute effectively to the development of European aviation policy. The most important is the commitment to safety: ensuring that safety criteria are determined on the basis of scientific risk assessment.
The CEOs reiterated their support for liberalisation of the entire value chain in the aviation sector, but also for a competitive and more regulated policy within the EU. They also confirmed, as a general principle, their opposition to the granting of public aid to airlines and airports. They agreed that both European and national regulations and policies should support the efficient provision of services, which in particular requires measures to effectively reduce the environmental impact of civil aviation. The importance of a balanced approach to users' rights was also stressed. It is up to European and national policies to ensure that users' rights are respected.
The CEOs agreed to jointly urge the Commission and EU Member States to implement the suggested measures. The five companies agreed that the way airlines are currently represented in Brussels, with six representative airline organisations, is not as effective as it should be and agreed to consider other forms of representation in the future.
Together, these five companies represent atotal of 420 million passengers in 2014This represents half of all passenger journeys in Europe.
