Luxembourg, 02/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 2 October, the Transport Council adopted conclusions based on the communication presented by the Commission in February on strengthening airport capacity, efficiency and safety in Europe. It invites the Commission to help member states develop interoperability capabilities, but does not explicitly support the development or implementation of joint methods for planning and assessing airport capacities.
The Council is in line with the Commission's approach and considers that measures proposed in January this year (see EUROPE 9351) could be the foundation of a coherent approach, the implementation of which would be likely to allow better use of existing infrastructures and facilitate the setting in place of new capacities necessary at national and regional level. It invites the Commission to help member states to develop airport interoperability and capacities, mainly by: - drawing up guidelines for assessing existing and planned airport capacities; - developing specifications for new equipment and procedures (on the ground and in the air) to ensure that new technologies are compatible; - and pursuing the research and development of new technologies. Nonetheless, the planning and development of airport capacities would remain under the responsibility of member states. Also, initiatives taken at European level (such as the idea of making an inventory on airport traffic or creating an observatory of airport capacities, ideas proposed by the Commission in the February 2007 action plan) may prove “useful” to help member states and airports to take decisions and improve the interoperability and management of airport capacities, but would not under any circumstances form a European planning framework. The Council nonetheless rallied to the idea that planning new airport infrastructures should be conducted in coordination with the planning of rail and road infrastructures, as the Commission had suggested. (aby)