Air transport policies in Europe
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 10 May 1979 (7th Sitting) (see Doc. 4314, report of the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development). Text adopted by the Assembly on 10 May 1979 (7th Sitting).
- Thesaurus
The Assembly,
1. Having regard to the reports of its Committee on Economic Affairs and Development (
Doc. 4183 and
Doc. 4314) ;
2. Taking note of the resolutely liberal policy of the United States of America Civil Aeronautics Board designed to promote competition on domestic routes and on routes to and from the USA, and of the recent conclusion between certain Council of Europe member states and the USA of new and more liberal bilateral air transport agreements ;
3. Considering that in Europe 20% of all travel by public transport takes place by air, against 80% in the USA, and that about half of the air traffic within Europe is carried on non-scheduled flights against about 5% in the USA ;
4. Stressing the need to protect European consumers against exaggerated protectionism of national carriers ;
5. Welcoming the present study by the Commission of the European Communities on the market structure of air transport in the Communities ;
6. Appreciating the recent proposals worked out within IATA to redefine the association's membership in basic participation in essential trade activities (technical, legal, research, standardisation, etc.) and optional participation in the association's tariff co-ordination activities ;
7. Recognising IATA's useful function as a trade association with regard to such questions as engineering and maintenance, navigational and communication procedures, safety, security, facilitation, airport developments, and legal and economic matters,
8. Calls on IATA and its member airlines to further evolve its multilateral framework for tariff consultation between its member airlines to achieve increased flexibility and responsiveness to competitive market forces ;
9. Stresses the important role the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) can play in shaping and co-ordinating the air transport policies of its member states, and attaches great importance to the continuation of close links between ECAC and the Assembly ;
10. Supports :
10.1 the statement on hijacking made at the Bonn Summit of 16 and 17 July 1978 ;
10.2 the recommendation on the searching of passengers and their hand baggage, adopted by ECAC on 14 December 1978 ;
10.3 the recommendation on denied boarding compensation (as a result of the interrelated problem of no-show and consequent overbooking), adopted by ECAC on 22 March 1979 ;
11. Welcomes the resolution on the harmonisation of dates at which changes in local time are made in ECAC states, adopted by ECAC on 15 February 1978, and hopes that the Council of Europe will resume its work on the introduction of a uniform summertime system ;
12. Recalls its
Recommendation 819 (1977) on the introduction of air traffic collision avoidance systems, which is aimed at improving the overall air traffic control network, and urges the Council of Europe member states to promote a common European approach to the planning and implementation of air traffic service facilities so as to further improve safety and economy of air transport and to ensure full exploitation of the capacity of the existing air traffic control systems ;
13. Aware that fares for scheduled air transport in Europe are higher than comparable fares in the USA and that, in addition to geographical and structural factors, this is also attributable to different government policies towards air transport ;
14. Urges the Council of Europe member states to strengthen their solidarity within ECAC through a better concertation on questions of common interest in an open and innovative spirit for the benefit of the public, in particular as a more liberal approach to fares and entry into the market ;
15. Calls on the Council of Europe member states :
15.1 while recognising social and national interests, nevertheless to reconsider the present pooling system by which certain airlines have exclusive rights to serve a particular route, thus seriously restricting competition ;
15.2 to take initiatives designed to simplify and to make more uniform the structure of take-off and landing fees, with a view to making them less expensive, subject to the need to encourage the purchase and use of quieter aircraft ;
15.3 to make a greater effort to co-ordinate the composition of their national airlines' aircraft fleets, in order to reduce the number of types of aircraft operating on European routes by concentrating on more economical and quieter wide-body aircraft, and bearing in mind the economic and technological importance of a healthy European aircraft industry ;
15.4 to increase the combination of charter and scheduled air transport on certain routes, for example by making it possible to reserve a number of seats for charter bookings on scheduled flights ;
15.5 to take measures to make it easier for the consumer to be informed of all the existing fare possibilities so that he can choose the most advantageous to him.
