A4E –A NEW POWERFUL AIRLINE LOBBY GROUP

European carriers Air France-KLM, easyJet, International Airlines Group (IAG) which is the parent company of Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia and Vueling,  Lufthansa Group and Ryanair have joined forces to lobby on European aviation policy, signaling a further shift in the evolving European airline association landscape

Collectively, the group carries more than 460 million passengers a year, accounting for half of the continent’s passenger journeys, operating more than 2,100 aircraft and generating €85 billion in turnover.

A4E pledges to campaign on at least three measures:

• Lowering the cost of the EU’s airports by ensuring that monopoly airports are effectively regulated. Airport charges have risen by more than three quarters over the last ten years. This is in direct contrast to the lower air fares being delivered by European airlines which have decreased by 20% over the same period. A4E wants to create growth and new jobs across Europe, both within aviation and beyond.
• Delivering reliable and efficient airspace by reducing the cost of air traffic control provision through completion of the Single European Sky project and better economic regulation at EU level; ensuring that ATC strikes do not cause disruption to passengers across Europe and using new technology to make efficiency savings.
• Stimulating more economic activity and jobs by creating the right regulatory environment, removing unreasonable taxes. The Italian government has recently increased the taxes on passengers charged at Italian airports by €2.50.

A4E believes that the focus must be on concrete and measurable actions that support European airlines and their customers by providing more flights and lower fares. All unreasonable taxes on aviation activity should be removed.

A4E will also work on several key principles and action items which should underpin EU aviation policy. The most important of these is the commitment to safety and ensuring that safety standards are developed on the basis of a risk-based scientific assessment.

Thomas Reynaert was named as managing director of A4E, joining from United Technologies where he ran its European government relations office.

Key Challenge

The key challenge for A4E will be to find enough common ground. Air France-KLM and Lufthansa on one side as well as IAG on the other side have differing views on how to deal with Gulf carriers. The network airlines are opposed to airport support that Ryanair in particular is receiving at many of its destinations.The picture is becoming more complex when the smaller legacy carriers like LOT Polish Air- lines, SAS, Finnair, Air Baltic or TAP Portugal are included. Some have received European Commission approved bail-out packages only recently, measures that Ryanair, Easy- jet and the large network carriers have vigorously, but unsuccessfully, opposed.