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Industry urges keeping EU261 revision on the Council agenda
26 June 2020: As the revision of EU261 might not be on the agenda of the German presidency of the Council of the EU starting from 1 July, ERA co-signed a joint industry letter addressed to German authorities urging to resume discussions that had started well during the Croatian Presidency and were ended abruptly because of the pandemic.
Maintaining fair competition post-COVID
18 June 2020: ERA has held an online meeting with members, plus representatives from DG COMP and DG MOVE as well academic experts to get views on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the competitive landscape in the air transport market and how the Commission could help level the playing field.
First aviation round table meeting
28 May 2020: ERA took part at the first virtual aviation round table meeting jointly organised by DG MOVE and DG COMP. The purpose of the meeting was to gather the views of airline associations on the Coronavirus recovery strategy, whilst maintaining a link to the main EU policy objectives for air transport.
Steer presents main findings of slot study
3 June 2020: During a videoconference held by the European Commission on 3 June – in which several ERA members also participated – a presentation on the main findings of the fact-finding study on slot regulation was made by consultancy Steer.
Ground handling-related work streams
In context of ground handling (GH), there are several works streams in which ERA has been involved in order to keep its members up-to-date and to represent their interests. ERA was invited to participate in the GH working group meeting under the SSDC for the first time; and at the end of February took part in an expert meeting at which EASA gathered GH experts to identify all the safety-related activities which will be included in the GH regulation. ERA also feeds into the ex-post evaluation Steer is conducting with the aim to map the current GH situation in Europe.
ERA presentation at the European Parliament
19 March 2020: A working breakfast titled 'Higher Cost for European Consumers and SMEs through Airline Consolidation; took place in the European Parliament in mid-February. Jörg Troester, Head of Corporate Strategy, Industry and Government Affairs at ERA member Hahn Air presented the association’s view on airlins and aircraft manufacturer consolidation, as well as its position on and the effect the airline ticket distribution market has on consumers.
ERA lobbies EASA SAB over EU261
Following the publication of the ERA study on EU261, ERA representatives were able to outline in more detail our position at the recent EASA Stakeholder Advisory Board held in Cologne at the end of February.
Highlighting EU261 safety implications
To support the concerns of its members, ERA has published a study highlighting the impact of EU261 and the negative impact on aviation safety. The study revealed a worrying erosion of the safety defenses embedded in SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures), aircraft system integrity and measures implemented to mitigate the human factor.
The European Commission is currently re-evaluating its recommendations in respect to Regulation EU261 relating to Air Passenger Compensation with an analysis by Steer.
EU finance ministers call for aviation taxation
Nine EU finance ministers (from Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden) have called on the next European Commission to propose new measures on aviation pricing. The Dutch-led initiative claims that “aviation is not sufficiently priced” compared to other transport modes.
The nine countries in question are responsible for more than half of the EU’s aviation emissions. Spain and the UK are notable absences from the letter.
Publication of the Steer study on EU261
30 January 2020: Following the release of the study ordered by the European Commission and conducted by the consultancy Steer on the current level of protection of air passenger rights in the EU, results of the work were shared with stakeholders during a closing conference held in Brussels.