Common Aviation Area Research Articles

The EU-Turkey Association and Other EU Parallel Legal Orders in the European Legal Space

This contribution will be devoted to the parallel legal orders which are established in the EU legal space. These legal orders align third countries through international agreements with the EU legal order. The Turkish association is one of them but also the European Economic Area (EEA), the Swiss bilaterals on persons, the Energy Community Treaty, the European Common Aviation Area Agreement and the Ukrainian Association can be counted as being among these special agreements. These agreements are not only characterized with the special aim of approximation to parts of the EU acquis but are also equipped with directly effective norms and homogeneity clauses. These homogeneity clauses are intended by the contracting parties to enable an identical interpretation of these international agreements norms with EU treaty norms. Relevant rulings on EU law will be also taken into account in the interpretation of identically or similarly phrased provisions. By comparing the different homogeneity clauses found in these agreements and putting them into the context of the relevant case law, it shall be concluded whether the judges follow the aims of these provisions.

When Jumbo Jets Share the Sky: Civil Aviation in the European Union and the United States of America

The global scope of civil aviation has increased at an exponential rate since the signature of the Chicago Convention in 1944. However, when it comes to recognizing zones of regional integration, such as the European Common Aviation Area (ECAA), international aviation law lags in progress. This article examines the new challenges in civil aviation arising for the European Union and Europe's relations with third countries, as seen through the lens of the EU-US Open Skies Agreement (OSA).The unification of European airspace and specifically the creation of the Schengen Area are clashing with traditional definitions of international and domestic flights. This incoherence between international air law and the European Union's novel creation is leading to inequalities in Europe's external air transport agreements. Open Skies liberalized civil aviation between the world's two largest aviation markets, but inequalities still remain, notably regarding the granting of air rights to passenger carriers and investment opportunities for European nationals in American air carriers. This article oversimplifies the technicalities of aviation law, and is destined for those with little or no knowledge of the subject.

Energy Community and European Common Aviation Area: Two Tales of One Story

The European Union (EU) conducts a multi-faceted policy in South-eastern Europe. Concentrating on two dimensions of the EU policy in the region, energy and aviation, the article considers the development of the two relevant regional initiatives, the Energy Community and the European Common Aviation Area. The first intends to create an integrated energy market in electricity and natural gas, by bringing together the twenty-seven EU Member States with nine partners from South-eastern Europe. The second is expected to create an integrated aviation market of thirty-six countries and five hundred million people, governed by the EU standards of aviation services' market, safety, security, Air Traffic Management and environment protection. While recognizing the existence of common features shared by the two initiatives, the analysis purports to identify the special characteristics of the two reform processes instigated by the EU, in order to highlight the existing differences and to shed light on the underlying explanatory factors. Emphasis is put on the relationship between the ideational foundation of the two reform processes and the material interests of the actors involved in them.

Prospects of Air Traffic Management in South Eastern Europe

In the forthcoming period the European air traffic management will handle double flight operations than today – from 1.7 to 2.1 higher traffic level in 2025 than in 2005 [1]. The problem of the European airspace fragmentation should be solved by the comprehensive dynamic harmonization programs, which can contribute to effective increase of airspace capacity and increase of air transport efficiency. The main objective of the development strategy refers to the implementation of reformation processes of the European air traffic management system through functional ATM1 regionalization. Encouraged by the Single European Sky project, and through airspace de-fragmentation, numerous projects have been initiated by Eurocontrol in cooperation with the European Commission. One of them is establishing of the Functional Airspace Block in South Eastern Europe. The implementation of regulatory, institutional and legal framework of the Single European Sky FAB2 would ensure the expansion of the European air traffic market to South Eastern Europe, counting over 500 million potential users [2]. Croatia and all the other countries in the region have to adopt the provisions of ECAA3 Agreement and EU air transport acquis in their national legislation. This paper specifies the main determinants of the strategic development as well as the key factors which influence the European air traffic dynamics. The paper elaborates the indicators and significant elements of the required ATM reforms in South Eastern Europe on the samples of six ANSPs according to ECAA Agreement and EU acquis. KEYWORDS: Single European Sky, European Common Aviation Area, Air Traffic Management, South Eastern Europe, Functional Airspace Block

EU Aviation Scene: Major Developments July 2008–November 2008

This article gives an overview of the major developments on the European Union aviation scene between 1 July 2008 and 30 November 2008. In particular: – The consolidation drive continued unabated. In addition to the alliance arrangements between Continental Airlines, United Airlines, and a number of other Star Alliance carriers announced in June 2008, American Airlines, British Airways, and Iberia made public in August 2008 that they had also applied for an antitrust immunity of their proposed alliance. The European Commission opened ex officio investigations into both alliance arrangements. During the period under review, the European Commission also cleared the Delta Airlines/Northwest Airlines merger, started an investigation into Lufthansa’s proposed acquisition of a 45% stake in SN Holding, the parent company of Brussels Airlines, and decided to open an in–depth investigation into the KLM/Martinair merger. Other transactions that were mentioned in the press include Lufthansa’s acquisition of a majority ownership of bmi British Midland, and its intention to acquire control of Austrian Airlines, which is being privatized by the Austrian Government. British Airways is in merger negotiations with Iberia and it is rumored that Air France/KLM may still end up acquiring a (majority) stake in Alitalia. – There have been major developments in the State aid field during the period under review. The European Commission and the European Court of First Instance adopted important decisions with regard to Alitalia, and there have been further developments in the Olympic State aid matter.The European Commission also adopted State aid measures in a number of other aviation–related cases – There were a number of noteworthy regulatory developments during the period under review, most importantly the publication in the Official Journal of the new regulation on the internal market for air transport, which brings together in one single legal instrument the three 1992 regulations that hitherto formed the pillars of the internal aviation market and that controlled (1) the licensing of air carriers, (2) the access of European Union carriers to intra–European Union routes, and (3) the fares and rates for air services. There were also further developments regarding the proposal for a new CRS (computerized reservation system) Code of Conduct. In addition, a Directive extending the European Union Emission Trading Scheme to aviation was finally adopted, and the European Court of Justice adopted a ruling on the interpretation of the concept of ‘flight’ for the purposes of the application of Regulation 261/2004 on compensation and assistance in the event of denied boarding, cancellation, and long delay – Finally, with regard to the European Union external aviation policy, the European Commission published a report on its progress toward the creation of a Common Aviation Area (CAA) with the neighbouring countries by 2010. There were also further developments regarding the negotiation or conclusion of horizontal air services agreements with third countries. Each of these points will be examined in greater detail in the sections below.

Spatial evolution of airport traffic and air transport liberalisation: the case of Greece

This paper explores the evolution of airport passenger traffic in Greece over the period 1978–2006. The country is a member of the European Common Aviation Area, but despite air transport liberalisation, spatial concentration of traffic and asymmetry remain high and have not decreased significantly over time. Greece is still short of traffic generated by low-cost carriers especially outside the main metropolitan airports. The paper argues that further dispersion of traffic could be possible primarily in the mainland if low-cost carriers decide to dynamically enter the Greek market. Potential benefits for regional and tourism development should induce policy makers to work towards this direction.

The 2006 ECAA Agreement: Centrepiece of the European Community’s Aviation Policy Towards its Neighbours

The article explains how the Community’s aviation policy towards its Neighbours is embedded in the external aviation policy of the Community, as it is emerging since the Court of Justice ‘Open skies’ judgements of November 2002. The article focuses in detail on the European Common Aviation Area (ECAA) agreement signed in June 2006, as the first concrete result of this neighbourhood policy, and refers in addition to the Euro–Mediterranean agreement with Morocco signed in December 2006. By way of conclusion, a number of preliminary positive consequences are mentioned, while reference is made to three challenges: provisional application, technical assistance and the eventual integration of the various (future) common aviation area agreements.

Opinion 1/00, Proposed Agreement on the Establishment of a European Common Aviation Area

Opinion 1/00, <i>Proposed Agreement on the Establishment of a European Common Aviation Area</i>

The TCAA - a blueprint for the 21st century

In December 1999, US Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater convened a high level international conference entitled ‘Aviation in the 21st Century, Beyond Open Skies’. At that conference, Loyola de Palacio, Vice-President and Commissioner for Transport and Energy of the European Commission put forward new proposals for an open civil aviation market embracing Europe and North America - a ‘Transatlantic Common Aviation Area’ (TCAA). Because of the potential importance of these ideas for the future of civil aviation development, the text of Vice-President de Palacio's Chicago speech is reproduced here.

Employment Policy and Deregulation in European Air Transport

The air transport industry in Europe in the present decade isyfacing an increasingly competitive environment. With prolongedyrecession and the prospect of a common aviation area within theysingle market of the European Community, airlines are exposedyto levels of competition from which they have been previouslyysheltered. These changed operating circumstances have led Euro-ypean airlines to review their cost structures, and in particularylabour costs, which constitute a major cost item under directymanagement control. In the United States increased competitionyin the 1980s following on the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act,ytransformed a hitherto largely non-labour sensitive industry intoya highly labour-sensitive one. The article examines recentyemployment policy developments in European airlines and con-ysiders the extent to which they mirror those witnessed in theyderegulated United States industry.