EU seeks lower airport charges[fr][de] 

The package has been toned down from what the commissioner originally had in mind, in view of winning support from both airline and airport operators. 

Barrot renounced plans to impose some kind of limit on airport charges – which airlines complain have become exorbitant, especially in larger, much-demanded airports such as Charles de Gaulle in Paris and London's Heathrow, pushing up ticket prices. However, airports say that these charges are a necessary source of revenue to finance infrastructure improvements, tighten security and accommodate rising passenger numbers and growing air traffic. 

The proposed Directive instead demands that airports set their prices in a transparent manner and prohibits them from discriminating between airlines. Hitherto, airports had often given cheap flight companies discounts because of the huge amounts of passengers they attract. But, under the new rules, prices should only vary if the service varies. 

Member states will also be required to establish an independent national regulator that will have the power to impose settlements in cases where airlines and airports fail to agree on charges. 

Barrot also presented a five-point action plan on tackling congestion at European airports. "This problem will become more and more crucial," said Barrot, pointing to the expected doubling in air-traffic volumes over the next 20 years. 

He sees optimising existing capacity as the best solution, through improved slot allocation and more efficient flight plans. The commissioner also suggests transferring travellers from saturated airports to smaller regional ones or to airports in other countries via other transport modes. 

Plans to open up ground-handling services to further competition were also delayed, notably because a similar proposal to liberalise port services attracted huge protests last year. "We did not want the same kind of demonstrations and strikes," the commissioner had said previously. He added that ground-handling services had already become more competitive, following a first round of liberalisation. 

Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot  said: "Everything we've done here is designed to bring down the costs of airport fees and, hence, the costs of travelling by air for passengers." While admitting that the draft directive on airport charges was "not ambitious", he said that the whole package represented "a milestone in the formation of a pan-European regulatory framework for European airports". 

Oliver Jankovec, director-general of Airports Council International (ACI-EUROPE) welcomed the "wide range of actions" proposed by the Commission to address "the important issue of the looming airport capacity crunch", but said: "The Commission's strategy fails to recognise that better use of existing capacity alone will not be enough and new airport infrastructure will have to be provided." 

On airport charges, he said that European airports were happy that the Commission had "avoided reinventing the wheel…recognising that charges are best dealt with at national level". 

Françoise Humbert, spokeswoman for the Association of European Airlines (AEA) told EurActiv: "We've been waiting for years to have this relationship between airports and airlines regulated in some way. Of course, we see this as only a first step. But it is one in the right direction." She added: "Of course, the lack of a cap on airport charges is a disappointment," but said that airlines thought the establishment of an independent regulator was "a very good initiative". She also said she hoped that legislation would be adopted in the future on groundhandling services because "we don’t think there has been an extraordinary opening of the market so far".