By Olivier Jankovec, Director General, ACI EUROPE
Autumn is always a very busy period in political terms and this year is no exception. But the fact that both the European Parliament and the European Commission are nearing the end of their 5-year mandates has added some more pressure. With the Parliamentary elections due to take place in May and a new Commission taking office after summer 2014, priorities are being reconsidered with a focus on getting things done before next spring. This means that in the coming weeks the EU’s aviation agenda will mainly be about the revision of the State aid Guidelines, revised passenger rights regulations and possibly some elements of the ‘Airport Package’. There is also the follow-up of the 38th ICAO Assembly.
For airport CEOs, ICAO tends to be seen as fairly remote, if not disconnected from their own business cycles. Yet, what happened last September in Montréal is crucial for the future of aviation. Through ICAO, a global agreement is now in place to address the impact of aviation on climate change through Market Based Measures. Backed – or rather urged – by a united industry led by ACI, CANSO and IATA, States from around the world have signed up to a firm commitment and an ambitious roadmap to deliver and implement these Market Based Measures by 2016. As a result, the EU needs to review the scope and other modalities of its own Emissions Trading Scheme for aviation, to ensure alignment and support with what ICAO has decided.
The ICAO deal is not the end point – the details and final agreement of these Market Based Measures still need to be sorted out. But it is a turning point – aviation can no longer be labelled as a “climate villain”. As a well-known and respected academic recently told me, there is a terrible irony in the fact that our sector has been doing so much to address its environmental impacts and that it is not recognised as a model of how industries should be performing. Yet, for aviation so much never seemed good enough. This may now start to change.
In a separate development, less than a month after the ICAO Assembly ended, the European Commission announced that Airport Carbon Accreditation had been selected as one of the top 3 low carbon projects for Europe. With 90 airports currently certified in 3 continents, Airport Carbon Accreditation has indeed pioneered a new and inspirational approach to carbon reduction with concrete and tangible results. This distinction is a significant step in finally gaining recognition for our actions.
Similarly, another good surprise came from hearing Robert Goodwill MP (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State with responsibility for Aviation) addressing the UK Airport Operators Association’s annual event in October. He said, loud and clear, that airports need to grow. This was quite a shift from the previous policy direction, which was all about getting “better airports, not bigger ones”. We are anxiously waiting to see those words translated into action. Solving the heated debate on airport expansion for London is one half of the equation, reconsidering the punitive UK aviation tax should be the other half – and the only way to support all the airports in the country.
For its part, the Irish Government is getting its act together. Recognising the value of aviation as an economic driver, it has followed the Dutch example and decided to scrap its aviation tax altogether. That was just a few weeks after the Walloon Government in Belgium also quietly abandoned the idea of taxing departing passengers from Liege and Charleroi airports. Meanwhile, Athens International Airport just released a new study showing that it accounts for over 2.6% of the Greek GDP. What is especially interesting is that despite the harsh crisis hitting the country and air traffic, the airport’s contribution to the national economy has actually increased over the past years. On that same day, as the Board of ACI EUROPE met with the upcoming Greek EU Presidency in Athens, it was very clear that taxing aviation is the very last thing the Greek Government would be thinking of.
As we are preparing for our 8th AIRPORT EXCHANGE, hosted by Doha International Airport this month, this issue puts the spotlight on a man who is well aware of the strategic value of aviation for the economy. The Qatari aviation model, which makes him both the CEO of an airport and its hub airline, might not be transferable to many countries. But it is certainly very efficient when it comes to unleashing the power of aviation and creating positive externalities.
