Brussels, 10/04/2006 (Agence Europe) - According to many of those taking part, it was a constructive meeting that was held on 7 April on the tricky issue of airport charges, which air companies believe are too high in most EU Member States. The growing tension between airports and airlines in recent months had made it necessary for the Commission to gather eleven representatives of the sector to discuss the matter. Given that there is no Community legislation in this respect, the aim of the Commission was, as a first step, to listen to what all the parties had to say. Although all participants agreed it was necessary to find a solution to the problem, the solutions they suggest differ considerably. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) wants the Commission to present a directive on airport charges providing for “strong” independent national regulators to be created for airports handling over five million passengers. In a press release, the Association of European Airlines (AEA) also advocated that the Commission play a “stronger role” by creating a sort of common European framework spelling out the principles which should govern the airline-airport relationship, as well as an economic regulator to impose a cap on airport free increases, thus ensuring better effectiveness of the system for both airports and airlines. The professional association of airport operations (ACI-Europe) is more in favour of regulations at national level. The Commission will now look at the different contributions made by the sector and convene a further consultation meeting, in order to find a balanced solution of benefit to all parties concerned.