Brussels, 11/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - The five organisations representing the interests of the airlines have denounced member states' lack of ambition with regard to the objectives in the performance scheme for 2015-2019, set up on 8 March. This scheme is a crucial part of the Single European Sky which over the years has lost its ability to take action for reforming European airspace and making it more efficient.
Ambitious goals for reducing costs, delays and CO2 emissions were proposed by the European Commission last year for the performance scheme for 2015-2019. The showdown, however, between the Commission and EU27 has led to a very watered down version of this legislative framework. Although the Commission appears to be resigned to the situation, this is not the case for the industry. The respective CEOs representing the European Airlines Association (AEA), European Business Aviation Association (EBAA), European Low Fares Airline Association (ELFAA), European Regional Airlines (ERA) and the International Air Carrier Association (IACA) have made a robust protest, “against another example of the failures in building a Single Sky in Europe”. In a joint press release they criticised the fact that, “the EU member states were finally able to weaken the proposed scheme which will result in further under-performance and will not incentivise the European Air Navigation Service Providers to improve their performance and reduced their costs”. The five airline heads also said that, “it is unacceptable that the European flagship programme for aviation appears to be rapidly falling apart”. The Commission has not been oblivious to the situation and has promised to submit a package next June as a means of rectifying the shortfalls in the programme, “Single European Sky 2 +”. A significant number of infringements are also expected by the summer against almost all member states that have failed to respect the December 2012 deadline for introducing airline aviation slots. (MD/trans/fl)