91999E1003

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1003/99

by Ian White (PSE) to the Commission

(20 April 1999)

Subject: Regional Airports

The EU is committed to the concept of regionality. Key to the development of the regions in the EU is the need for air transport links to be available from regional airports to major centres/hubs (e.g. Frankfurt). Regional airports have difficulty obtaining viable slots at these hubs as there is no commercial incentive for the hub airport authorities to allow in smaller aircraft at the expense of larger, more lucrative aircraft, each carrying many more passengers. This is a clear conflict with regionality and is likely to lead to the continued under-utilisation of regional airports and the demand-led pressure on large airports to become even larger.

Given this conflict, how does the Commission plan to resolve this matter? A potential solution would be the limited but mandatory requirement for large hub airports to provide viable slots for regional airport/airline use. This is the procedure in continental North America where the world's busiest airport (Chicago O'Hare) is obliged to allocate 20 % of its slots in this way.

Joint answer

to Written Questions E-1000/99, E-1001/99, E-1002/99 and E-1003/99 given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(6 May 1999)

The Commission is aware that airlines operating to and from regional airports find it increasingly difficult to secure appropriate slots at congested hub airports.

The Commission is in the process of preparing a proposal to amend the existing Council Regulation (EEC) 95/93 of 18 January 1993 on the common rules for the allocation of slots at Community airports. In that context, consideration is being given to the possibilities of introducing appropriate mechanisms to take into account the specific situation of regional routes.

The current Regulation provides for the possibility of reserving slots on vital routes to and from regional airports where public service obligations have been imposed under Council Regulation (EEC) 2408/92 of 23 July 1992 on access for Community air carriers to intra-Community air routes(1). Member States therefore are able to reserve slots in order to ensure the continued operation of such services between regional and hub airports. The Commission is considering whether these provisions should be maintained or reinforced.

In relation to the situation in South West England and all other Community regions, it is for the relevant Member State authorities, and not the Commission, to take any appropriate decision on the imposition of public service obligations, in accordance with their own regional and transport policies, provided that the obligations envisaged meet, for each individual route, the various criteria set out in the Regulation.

(1) OJ L 240, 24.8.1992.