More than 250 participants gathered via video conference on Thursday 23 July, to take part in the aviation summit organised by German Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer, whose country has held the rotating Presidency of the EU Council for almost a month.
The event was attended by the other 26 European Transport Ministers as well as representatives from the aviation industry, airlines, airports and air navigation services.
On the agenda: the revival of the airline industry, one of the sectors hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We will not measure the extent of the damage caused by the crisis for some time, but what we already know is that we need to return to a strong and financially sustainable aviation ecosystem”, summed up the European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Vălean, who was present at the summit.
Passenger confidence. Among the many challenges identified by stakeholders and described by Mr Scheuer to the press after the meeting, the need to regain passenger confidence was highlighted.
Referring to the urgent need to implement harmonised health criteria for the safe resumption of travel, the German Minister welcomed the adoption by the EU Council the day before of conclusions on this subject (see separate news item).
He also stressed the importance of greater flexibility at European level on rules on airport slots (see EUROPE 12529/21).
Financial support. Innovation was also presented as one of the pillars of the recovery. The representatives from the aviation industry committed themselves, in this regard, to continue to work on the development of cleaner aircraft, running on cleaner fuels. They also requested the support of the EU and the Member States in this endeavour.
The Airports Council International (ACI) has also called for increased support. Its president, Jost Lammers, indicated that the financial aid granted to airlines was not going to solve the financial problems of airports: it “creates massive imbalances in the Single Aviation Market and threatens its integrity”, he warned.
The need to make the Single European Sky “more efficient” (see EUROPE 12429/13) was also addressed. “There are still so many shortcomings on this point: we need to become more digital, more efficient, while maintaining national responsibilities”, the Minister said.
In his report, Andreas Scheuer did not, however, go into detail on the issue of greening European aviation.
Climate protection, however, he said, would be at the heart of the German Presidency’s programme for the transport sector, known as the “New Mobility Approach” (see EUROPE 12510/19). (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)