EMMA KELLY / ATHENS
Europe's regional airlines believe they can benefit from the crisis facing the continent's major carriers, but only if state subsidies are applied to the air transport sector in general and not used as an excuse to bail out already ailing national carriers.
Europe's regional airline industry is estimated to have lost around €4 million ($3.67 million) a day in revenue following the 11 September terrorist strikes in the USA, Mike Ambrose, European Regions Airline Association (ERA) director general, told delegates at the ERA general assembly, in Athens on 11 and 12 October.
While several ERA member carriers initially cut services and have put fleet development plans on hold following the traffic downturn, regional operators - primarily those not majority owned by the struggling national carriers - are identifying new business opportunities as the large airlines are forced to downsize and withdraw from markets.
UK regional British European, for example, initially saw a 37% fall in bookings for the first week after the terrorist attacks, but is now within 5% of its overall sales target. Though three routes were closed, it launched two new ones following the demise of fellow UK regional Gill Air, and increased frequencies on Belfast routes after British Airways' decision to withdraw from London Heathrow-Belfast, says Jim French, managing director.
Greek independent Aegean Airlines, meanwhile, initially cut frequencies by 20-25% but at the end of this month will add new routes connecting Athens with Stuttgart and Düsseldorf.
One of the sector's biggest concerns, however, is that state aid - approved by the European Commission last week for airlines suffering directly as a result of 11 September - will be used to prop up flag carriers already ailing before the terrorist attacks. "Airlines should not be helped over and above the real cost of 11 September," says French. State aid should be available across the air transport sector, not just for national carriers, he adds.
But, Ambrose says, proving the effect on regional carriers of losing interline transatlantic traffic or the closure of London City Airport, for example, following the terrorist attacks will be difficult.
Any long-term market gain for regionals, however, will require them to secure the slots given up by struggling major carriers, says Frederik Sorensen, former head of the European Commission's air transport policy unit.
The ERA has asked the EC to support its member airlines, calling on states to pay for increased security rather than airlines footing the bill; requesting states to cover war risk insurance; asking for the deferral of the $1.25 per capital insurance levy until it is recoverable through air fares; and calling for security measures to be determined jointly by state and industry experts, and not politicians.
Source: Flight International
