Delivering the EU Aviation Strategy – a summary of the EESC public hearing

The Aviation Strategy should create a better climate for investment, in order to encourage EU investors. This will make the sector more competitive and boost its overall in the economy and consequently promote growth and jobs. The strategy can only succeed if it enjoys broad and strong support from ALL parts of the aviation value network. These are the main conclusions to emerge from the public hearing entitled "Delivering the EU Aviation Strategy – getting stakeholders on board", held in Brussels on 22 April 2016.

"EU aviation policy in the last decade is a success story but this cannot be taken for granted" – stated Henrik Hololei, Director-General of DG Mobility and Transport, in his opening speech. He underlined that aviation is a real enabler of growth for the EU economy although, unfortunately, not everybody is sufficiently aware of that fact. He listed a number of issues that will be addressed in the strategy drawn up by the European Commission, including the Single European Sky, the approaching capacity crunch, access to growing markets, climate change, passenger rights and safety and security issues. He emphasised that, when creating the strategy, the Commission had adopted a holistic approach so as to give equal weight to the needs of ALL parts of the aviation value network.

Will the EU Aviation Strategy enable job creation and economic growth?

Participants in the first panel attempted to answer the question "Will the EU Aviation Strategy enable job creation and economic growth?" Frank Brenner, Director General of Eurocontrol, underlined that Europe should adjust its thinking on aviation to take account of new concepts and the requirements of a fast-changing global market. He praised the Commission for its courage in putting forward the strategy.

A number of positive examples of growth enablers were listed by representatives of the SESAR Joint Undertaking, the SESAR Deployment Manager and representatives of industry. The SESAR project could be viewed as a case study for the strategy, delivering good practices in areas such as innovation, effective private-public partnership and efficient links between academia and industry.

"The European aviation industry is far more than just Airbus, it's hundreds of innovative companies" – stated Florian Guillermet, Executive Director of the SESAR Joint Undertaking. This creates an enormous opportunity to bring all actors together and create an ecosystem for all. Massimo Garbini, Managing Director of the SESAR Deployment Manager pointed out that political and social awareness of the importance of aviation for the economy must be raised in order to ensure success. Industry representatives were convinced that European aviation remains attractive for investors, regretted delays in the implementation of innovative projects and urged the Commission to facilitate a regulatory framework and provide sufficient public co-financing for R&D.

The EU Aviation Strategy – getting stakeholders on board

Participants in the second panel focussed on the incentives that the strategy should provide for certain stakeholders in order to secure their support. François Ballestero - Political Secretary at the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) felt that the Commission proposal is too liberal in its approach, does not sufficiently protect workers' rights and will expose European aviation to unfair competition.

Luc Tytgat. Strategy and Safety Management Director at the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) listed the following preconditions for implementation of the strategy: defining the role of the European regulator, addressing the fragmentation of the existing system (also in terms of security and safety) and the international aspect.

Martin Gauss - Chief Executive Officer of airBaltic, welcomed the fact that representatives of smaller airlines are also being taken into account in discussions on the strategy. He underlined that smaller airlines also support market consolidation but only if certain conditions, such as providing connectivity, are met. In his view, the European airlines market should not end up with only 5 major players as there are niches for smaller airlines.

The issue of passengers' rights was raised by Ursula Pachl - Deputy Director General of the BEUC. Ms Pachl pointed out that airlines often still fail to comply with existing passenger rights. She expressed her unhappiness at the pending legislative proposals that were supposed to improve the situation and stated that closer cooperation is needed between the national authorities regulating consumer law and transport, airlines and consumer organisations.

Morgan Foulkes, Deputy Director General of Airports Council International Europe (ACI) claimed that dynamic changes on the market are causing more and more traffic to bypass Europe. Unless proper action is taken, the EU's share of global aviation will continue to drop. In Mr Foulkes's view, the European economy needs both direct and indirect connectivity but a strong hub positioning is essential.

Guenter Martis, Director for European Affairs at CANSO underlined the role of air navigation service providers (ANSP) in supporting SES. In his view, however, the cost reductions being imposed on ANSPs are hindering innovation. He pointed out that aviation is a highly regulated environment that needs better and smarter regulation and which requires better stakeholder competences.

"We need to ensure that European Aviation stays in the lead", said Violeta Bulc, European Commissioner for Transport in her keynote speech. "2016 is the year of delivery in the field of aviation strategy." The Commissioner thanked the EESC for its opinion on Integrated EU Aviation Policy, which was adopted in September 2015 and was an important document for the Commission when drafting its Aviation Strategy. "We want to have sustainable, competitive aviation but aviation is not only about business, it is also about people", added Violeta Bulc and confirmed the openness of the Commission to consultation with stakeholders.

Marian-Jean Marinescu, Member of the European Parliament and EP rapporteur for the regulation on civil aviation safety and EASA stated that the fate of the SES initiative, which has still not been implemented, should be a warning sign for the Aviation Strategy. He stressed the importance of all aviation-related proposals being properly implemented.