Brussels, 15/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - Tony Tyler, Director General and CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), remains optimistic in the face of the air challenges Europe needs to address. He answered questions from EUROPE on this at the Paris Air Forum on 11 July. (Interview conducted by MD).
Agence Europe: The Single European Sky has accumulated many delays. Can the trend still be reversed to reap the benefits of a more efficient air transport?
Tony Tyler: I am by nature an optimist, and you have to be an optimist if you believe we're really going to see significant changes in the short term. In the long term, we have to become more efficient, find a way of integrating Europe skies better than it is now. The growth we all expect simply won't happen unless we do that. I know that they understand it the European Commission, and the current commissioner Siim Kallas has worked manfully to make progress. Unfortunately the member states resist it and the air navigation service providers resist it, but you cannot resist forever. There will have to be some progress.
The EU Commission has launched infringements procedures against more than 20 member states who haven't yet abolished national barriers to implement functional airspace blocks. Has this come too late?
It's never too late, the best time to start would have been a long time ago but the next best start is now. It is good to see that the Commission is seeking to enforce the rules they made. We would like to see a stronger enforcement. In the first performance scheme, the targets were watered down and states didn't meet the target and they kind of got away with it. This is wrong, we would like to see top-down enforcement to make governments live up to their commitments. That's the really least they could do.
Are you confident a global solution can be found in the near future to reduce CO2 emissions from air transport?
Good progress is being made in the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) as we speak. And I think everybody is highly motivated to deliver a scheme at the next ICAO assembly in 2016 on a global market-based measure. There are still two years to go, so we need to keep the momentum up. I was at ICAO a couple of days ago and clearly there is strong motivation from everybody there to make this happen. Some of the countries who were resisting some of the issues before the last assembly now seem to be modifying their position and now seem to be supporting more than they were before. So again this is encouraging. We need a global scheme. I think it would be very damaging to the industry and won't help the environment either if Europe does go down a separate path. Everyone is very aware that the risk of that happening is high if we don't get a global scheme.
European airlines and hubs see development in air transport in the Gulf States as a threat. Do you think the EU should do more to establish a better balance?
It's not so much what is happening in other parts of the world and, in this case, what the gulf airlines are doing. It's more what Europe should be doing to put its own house in order. I think that is what Europe should be focused on - on fixing the excessive taxation, the excessive overregulation, the expenses in inadequate infrastructure in Europe. Perhaps instead of throwing stones at other people, European governments and Commission need to look to setting their own houses in order.