During an informal meeting in Tallinn on 21 September, European Union transport ministers discussed the means and possible measures to be adopted for strengthening air connectivity, particularly in Europe’s peripheral regions.
On behalf of the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, two options were mooted by the Estonian minister for economic affairs and infrastructure, Kadri Simson: the introduction of public service obligations for airlines and the allocation of state aid. To this end, the Presidency examined the possibility of airlines that run international flights being subject to public procurement contracts but it would appear that this option is incompatible with Union legal rules on state aid. A European source explained that the hypothesis of greater flexibility as a means of promoting airport connectivity appears, therefore, to be the preferred option of the member states that most recently joined the European Union in order to correct connectivity imbalances in Europe.
Without proposing any concrete measure, transport ministers therefore arrived at the conclusion that it was necessary to reach a balanced solution that improved connectivity without breaching Union law. “It remains to be seen whether the European Union will be able to create opportunities that will provide all member states with solutions to ensure good connections”, Simson stated.
The European commissioner for transport, Violeta Bulc, attended this debate and was keen to point out that connectivity in aviation was an “important subject for the European Commission”. She nevertheless called for better connectivity that took into account all modes of transport and not just aviation. Bulc and David Marsh, ahead of unit at EUROCONTROL, also presented ministers with the first version of the air connectivity index, which is expected to evolve and enable the national authorities to provide the national assessment authorities with connectivity assessments of their infrastructure so that they can make appropriate decisions in this connection. The EU transport ministers also called on the Commission to extend this index to all modes of transport.
Oliver Jankovec, the director general of Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe) was invited to share his observations and he presented some flattering figures for European airports that indicated that connectivity had increased by 60% since 2004 (and by 46% for intra-European connectivity) boosted by low-cost airlines (+175% over the past decade). He also argued that external aviation agreements with third countries played a major role in airport connectivity. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)