New aviation strategy from EU

The European Commission is considering new measures to tackle what it sees as unfair competition from non-EU airlines. The move is part of a package of proposals designed to boost the competitiveness of Europe's aviation sector.

The commission also asked national governments to give it a mandate to start talks on air transport agreements with a number of countries including China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar.

The talks with the Gulf countries are likely to be difficult since US and European carriers including Delta Air Lines, Lufthansa and Air France KLM, have accused the Gulf airlines of receiving unfair state subsidies, a charge denied by Emirates and Etihad.

The aviation package presented by Violeta Bulc, the EU transport commissioner, and Maros Sefcovic, the vice president in charge of the energy union, contains a range of measures designed to improve connectivity in the EU, tackle airports’ capacity constraints and charges and regulate the use of drones.

The other countries with which the EU Commission wants to negotiate air transport agreements are Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Mexico and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.    http://ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm

Index/Home page
 

OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum