24.6.2005

Official Journal of the European Union

C 153/23

Amendment by France of a public service obligation on scheduled air services between La Rochelle and Lyon and between Poitiers and Lyon

(2005/C 153/09)

(Text with EEA relevance)

Pursuant to Article 4(1)(a) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2408/92 of 23 July 1992 on access for Community air carriers to intra-Community air routes, France has decided to amend, from 1 November 2005, the public service obligation imposed on scheduled air services between La Rochelle (Ile de Ré) and Lyon (Saint-Exupéry) on the one hand and Poitiers (Biard) and Lyon (Saint-Exupéry) on the other. This obligation will replace the one published in Official Journal of the European Union C 79 of 30 March 2004 for the airport at La Rochelle (Ile de Ré) and C 299 of 4 December 2004 for the airport at Poitiers (Biard).

From 1 November 2005, the public service obligation for scheduled air services between the airports at La Rochelle (Ile de Ré) and Lyon (Saint-Exupéry) on the one hand, and the airports at Poitiers (Biard) and Lyon (Saint-Exupéry) on the other, is as follows:

Minimum frequency

The minimum level of service provided must be:

—	two round trips a day, morning and evening, from Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays, 220 days a year,

—	one round trip on Sunday, 44 weeks a year.

The route must be as follows: La Rochelle (Ile de Ré) — Poitiers (Biard) — Lyon (Saint-Exupéry) and vice versa.

Type of aircraft used

The service must be operated with a pressurised twin-turboprop or twin-jet aircraft having a seating capacity of at least 40.

Timetables

Timetables must be such as to enable passengers on business trips during the working week to make the round trip within the day and to spend at least five hours at their destination, whether La Rochelle (Ile de Ré), Poitiers (Biard) or Lyon (Saint-Exupéry).

Timetables must be such as to allow transit passengers to take national and/or international connecting flights at Lyon (Saint Exupéry).

Flight bookings

Flights must be bookable through at least one computerised reservation system which allows destinations to be marketed.

Operation

The company must be connected to the airports used on this route by a computerised communication system.

Continuity of service

Except in cases of force majeure, the number of flights cancelled in any year for reasons directly attributable to the carrier must not exceed 3 % of the number of flights scheduled. The carrier must give six months' notice before discontinuing these services.

Community carriers are hereby informed that the operation of air services without regard to the abovementioned public service obligation may result in administrative and/or criminal penalties.