European airline chief executives met Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and other representatives of the European Union institutions last week to unveil an action plan to resolve the growing number of cost burdens and constraints they are suffering.
The 14 October meeting with the new European transport commissioner Jacques Barrot and key MEPs was led by Association of European Airlines president Vagn Soerensen. "With European airlines reporting another unprofitable year after having totalled $6.4 billion in losses over the past five years, the industry is still faced with inefficient air traffic control, causing uneconomic routings and needless holding patterns," says Soerensen.
He adds that airlines have responded to the market changes caused by 11 September and increased competition from low- cost carriers, but the "problem is that the market has been liberalised as planned with the aim of expanding customer choice and increasing competition, but the physical and political infrastructure is not put into place to accommodate expansion".
Soerensen says that the lack of an adequate ATC has resulted in congestion, "which is leading to unnecessary delays. Instead of solving the problem, legislators introduce passenger compensation rules that extend beyond airlines' control."
Airlines waste "huge amounts of fuel" flying patterns imposed by an antiquated ATC system, says Soerensen, while "investment is channelled to high- speed trains and we are faced with environmental taxes on the extra fuel we have to burn". He says airlines have to pay for security which should be the responsibility of the authorities, while insurance costs have "skyrocketed".
Source: Flight International
