The bad news for European airlines began in February this year when the European Commission said it was considering new regulatory measures to curb the impact of aviation on global warming (EurActiv, 1 Feb. 2005).
The actual measures are still to be published, but it appears that including aviation in the EU system to cap and trade CO2 emissions is the Commission's favoured option (EurActiv, 1 August 2005). Although fought off by most companies, the proposal won support from part of the European airline industry and seems to be the option attracting the least hostility.
Then came Chirac's proposal to tax air travel as a way to finance development aid. Initially not taken seriously, the idea gathered support from EU finance ministers in May (EurActiv, 17 May 2005) and from the UN in July (EurActiv, 7 July 2005). France, followed by Germany, have since announced they will go ahead with national tax for development aid plans as of 2006 (EurActiv, 30 August 2005).
Although initially opposed to the idea, the Commission chose to take a neutral stance on this highly political dossier and published a 'technical reflection document', making the case for a mostly voluntary tax.
Other policy measures have rocked European airlines in recent months:
- New EU guidelines restricting state aid to regional airports were adopted in September following the Ryanair probe at Charleroi regional airport (EurActiv, 6 Sept. 2005). Although they allow room for local authorities to grant start-up aid to regional airports, the guidelines nonetheless impose limits to their use and rules out the model put in place at Charleroi with Ryanair. European regional associations are now considering bringing the matter to the European Court of Justice.
- New EU passenger rights rules came into force on 17 February obliging airlines to compensate customers in case for flight cancellations, overbooking and delays. Airlines took the case to the European Court of Justice but virtually lost all hopes of winning the case on 9 September when Advocate General Leendert Geelhoed dismissed all allegations put forward by the International Air Transport Association and the European Low Fares Airline Association (EurActiv, 9 Sept. 2005)
- The Commission has opened a consultation on improving airport capacity, efficiency and safety that could lead to a new set of legislative proposals
To rub salt into the wounds of the airline industry, the deteriorating safety records of aeroplanes has come under the spotlight in a dramatic way with an unprecedented series of air crashes during the summer. The events have led the EU to consider harmonising air safety regulation across Europe, including a European 'black list' of unsafe airlines. Again, industry reacted with scepticism, the International Air Transport Association saying blacklisting would "do nothing to improve safety".
