Air transport
- (Photo: European Commission)
The single market for aviation was created in the 1990s in three steps:
The first “package” of measures adopted in December 1987 limited the right of governments to object to the introduction of new fares intra-EU traffic.
The second “package” in 1990 allowed greater flexibility over the setting of fares and capacity-sharing. It also gave all EU carriers the right to carry an unlimited number of passengers or cargo between their home country and another EU country.
The “third package” of measures applied as from January 1993 introduced the freedom to provide services within the EU and, in April 1997, the freedom to provide “cabotage”: the right for an airline of one Member State to operate a route within another Member State. This single market has been extended to Norway, Iceland and Switzerland in the following years. Then in July 2006, the European Commission made a proposal for modifying and simplifying the legal framework for the internal air transport market.
The air relations with countries located outside Europe are laid down in bilateral air services agreements. These agreements are regularly negotiated between Governments, as represented by their Aeronautical Authorities. The Community (EC) external aviation policy has been started by the so-called “open skies” judgements of 5 November 2002 of the Court of Justice of the European Communities. The “open skies” judgement means that Member States cannot act in isolation when negotiating international air service agreements, thus existing bilateral agreements will need to be adapted in order to bring them into line with Community law.
The centrepiece of the European Union’s strategy for aviation safety is the European Aviation Safety Agency.
The future
Studies are on-going in view of elaborating a European Civil Aviation Code.
Links
- Guide to European Community legislation in the field of civil aviation: http://ec.europa.eu/transport/......ation_acquis_handbook_2007.pdf
- The Air transport website of the Euroepan Commission: http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air_portal/index_en.htm
- “open skies” judgements: http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/l......o?uri=CELEX:61998C0466:EN:HTML
- European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) http://www.easa.eu.int/home/index.html
See also Eurocontrol.
