On 8 June 2017, the European Commission adopted a series of measures designed to further support growth in the European and international aviation market (Communication on Aviation: Open and Connected Europe, SWD(2017) 207 final) as implementation of the EU Aviation Strategy (Communication from the Commission: An Aviation Strategy for Europe, COM/2015/0598 final). Two of the measures address challenges facing the EU internal aviation market (Interpretative Guidelines on Regulation (EC) 1008/2008 – Public Service Obligations (PSO), COM (2017) 3712 final; Commission Staff Working Document on practices favouring Air Traffic Management Service Continuity, SWD (2017) 207 final). Two further measures address issues related to international aviation (Interpretative Guidelines on Regulation (EC) 1008/2008 – Rules on Ownership and Control of EU air carrier; Proposal for a Regulation on safeguarding competition in air transport, repealing Regulation (EC) No 868/2004, SWD (2017) 182 final, SWD (2017) 183 final). Of the four measures, only one is a legislative proposal, the remaining three are of a non-binding legal nature. The Commission proposes to adopt a new Regulation on trade protection for EU aviation which would replace Regulation 868/2004. The legislative process required before final adoption of the Commission’s proposal has not yet commenced; ultimately the final outcome of the process could differ significantly from the original proposal under review in this article. The author therefore addresses the question of whether, if adopted as suggested in its current wording, the new Regulation 868 would deliver on the intended improvements of the former legislation, become practicable and have strategic impact. The author concludes that the legislative proposal on trade protection is indeed a significant step towards helping the EU effectively address international distortions to competition in the aviation sector. Specific issues would need to be clarified, but the political debate could reveal that the thrust of the proposal would not be acceptable to several stakeholders. Given that ongoing market deployments have eroded the relevance of several regulatory provisions, the author questions whether the Commission’s approach to present interpretative guidelines to current provisions of Regulation 1008/2008 are sufficient to deliver meaningful progress in implementing the EU Aviation Strategy. The author finally evaluates the measures which the Commission proposes to contain the damaging economic effect of labour action in the field of air traffic management.
Air and Space Law