What do we want to achieve ?
A strategically important sector that makes a vital contribution to the EU's overall economy and employment, aviation supports close to 5 million jobs and contributes €300 billion, or 2.1% to European GDP.
Despite the current economic crisis, global air transport over the long term is expected to grow by around 5% annually until 2030. As traffic increases so do concerns about safety. The common EU aviation policy aims at making Europe the safest air space in the world.
In order to fully exploit the economic potential of the sector, the European Commission constantly works on several important aspects for our skies.
Aviation Strategy
In December 2015 the European Commission adopted an Aviation Strategy for Europe, a milestone initiative to boost Europe's economy, strengthen its industrial base and reinforce its global leadership position. A strong and outward-looking aviation sector will not only benefit businesses, but also European citizens by offering more connections to the rest of the world at lower prices.
Single Market
The aviation market was gradually liberalised through three successive packages of measures adopted at EU level which covered air carrier licensing, market access and fares. So, decades of restrictions that had limited air transport markets in Europe and prevented cross-border investment by European airlines have been removed.
External Aviation
The gradual development of a more coordinated EU external aviation policy over the past decade has been the logical consequence of the creation of the EU internal market and associated common rules. This has generated significant economic benefits. But the Commission has now come with fresh ideas to move forward.
Single European Sky
Something needs to be done about the heavy airspace congestion causing lengthy delays on many European flights, and the strain on airport capacity due to the projected increase in traffic. This is the aim of the ambitious initiative for a Single European Sky (SES), launched in 2004. A second package of measures, known as SES II, followed in 2009 and had a greater emphasis on environment and cost efficiency. We are now looking at whether further measures are necessary.
SESAR
The technology required for the future Single Sky is provided through the air traffic management research programme SESAR, which aims to modernise infrastructure and raise efficiency by optimising capacity - and so enable the SES to become a reality.
Brexit
News
The Commission adopted its communication on the Sustainable Transport Investment Plan (STIP), setting out a pivotal roadmap to rapidly accelerate the energy transition of aviation and waterborne transport sectors.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) published its first annual report on the implementation of the ReFuelEU aviation regulation.
On 12 October, 29 European countries started introducing Europe’s new digital border system - the Entry/Exit System (EES) at their external borders. European countries started electronically registering the data of non-EU nationals crossing their external borders for short stays.
The ICAO has formally condemned Russia for repeatedly interfering with Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals in Europe.
A special ceremony was held during the 42nd ICAO Assembly, to mark the completion of three EU funded studies under the International Civil Aviation Organization’s capacity building and training programme for sustainable aviation fuels (ACT-SAF).
The EU and ICAO have reaffirmed their strong commitment to advancing global aviation safety, security and sustainability during the 9th EU-ICAO Joint Committee meeting, held on 22 September at ICAO Headquarters in Montréal.