EU AVIATION COMPETITIVENESS POLICY

The EU aviation sector serves passengers and EU businesses and has a hugely positive impact on our economy and on the life and mobility of EU citizens and businesses.

The "Aviation Package" is foreseen to identify the challenges facing the EU's aviation sector and measures that can bolster its competitiveness. The Aviation Package is expected to be adopted by the Commission by the end of 2015.

Today, EU aviation policy thus not only contributes to European integration and cohesion by connecting people as well as contributes to the EU's economy. It also ensures high standards, in relation to aviation safety, security, passenger rights and the environment.

Yet aviation itself is a volatile business. It requires long-term planning and is exposed to high risks, many of which are beyond the control of the aviation sector (e.g. fluctuations of the oil price, political crises, extreme weather conditions, pandemics). At the same time, the global aviation landscape is changing: increased demand for air travel, in particular in emerging economies, will be one of the main drivers of aviation in the decades ahead. Also, new and powerful competitors are entering the aviation market. The relative competitiveness of the EU's aviation industry as a whole risks deteriorating, which does not only impact the sector itself, but may also undermine the high-quality of services so far provided to its customers. This development could entail consequences for Europe as a business location and therefore also for jobs and growth in the EU. These existing challenges are only matched by the opportunities created by the changing landscape of global aviation. In order to allow the EU's aviation sector to fully reap this potential, its competitiveness must be fostered through a comprehensive approach.

The European Commission recognises the importance of aviation as an enabler of growth and it has included, in its 2015 Work Programme "A New Start"3 an Aviation Package, including an Aviation Strategy, that aims to provide a comprehensive vision for the competitiveness of the EU aviation sector in particular and the whole EU aviation ecosystem at large.

Innovation should be at the heart of improving the competitiveness of the EU aviation industry. Aviation is one of the strategic global industries with a positive growth projection for the decades to come. It is an industry which provides numerous jobs, many of which are highly skilled. Aeronautical manufacturing drives technological innovations which spin off into other sectors of the EU's economy and benefit their environmental performance. It is in the EU's interest to maintain the aviation sector as one of Europe's industrial strongholds and a global service provider. The European internal aviation market is among the EU's best assets in times of increasing globalisation. A strong internal aviation market, underpinned by an effective and efficient legal framework, benefits the aviation sector and serves as a springboard to the highly competitive global market. Reinforcing the sector's competitiveness through an innovative approach to air transport services should mobilise the full potential of the EU aviation ecosystem serving the economy and the people.

Issues

• EU air passenger rights legislation
• Guidelines on state aid to airports and airlines
• On-going revision of the EASA Regulation 216/2008 (Aviation Safety)
• On-going revision of Regulation 868/2004 against subsidies and unfair practices, Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS)
• SESAR project supporting the implementation of the European Air Traffic Management Network.