Imposition of public service obligations in respect of air routes between the Balearic Islands pursuant to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2408/92

(2003/C 307/03)

(Text with EEA relevance)

I. Air routes concerned

Public service obligations shall be imposed in respect of scheduled air services provided on the following routes:

(a) Majorca-Ibiza;

(b) Majorca-Minorca;

(c) Minorca-Ibiza.

II. General conditions

1. Community air carriers wishing to operate scheduled air services in conformity with the public service obligations must hold a valid operating licence, in accordance with Council Regulation (EEC) No 2407/92(1) on licensing of air carriers.

2. Such carriers must submit to the Directorate-General for Civil Aviation (Dirección General de Aviación Civil), by the dates and within the time limits specified, and separate from the rest of the schedule of flights they may submit for the operation of services on other routes, the schedule of operations on routes subject to public service obligations, which shall cover a minimum period of twelve consecutive months. This schedule shall include the following information:

(a) route on which the carrier wishes to operate;

(b) operating periods in the relevant International Air Transport Association (IATA) scheduling seasons;

(c) flight identification number;

(d) timetables;

(e) available capacity;

(f) period and days on which the service is to be operated;

(g) type of aircraft/number of seats/cargo capacity;

(h) configuration of passenger compartment, where appropriate;

(i) written confirmation of knowledge and acceptance of the continuity of service conditions imposed as part of these public service obligations.

The carrier must also submit a document detailing the fares and associated conditions to be applied in accordance with the specific conditions laid down in paragraph 2 of Section III.

3. The following must be taken into account when submitting schedules:

3.1. By the dates and subject to the conditions specified below, each air carrier shall submit its schedule of services, split according to the winter and summer scheduling seasons:

(a) if the start of the service schedule coincides with the beginning of the summer scheduling season, it shall be submitted before 1 March and shall include the provisional schedule for the following winter scheduling season;

(b) if the start of the service schedule coincides with the beginning of the winter scheduling season, it shall be submitted before 1 October and shall include the provisional schedule for the following summer scheduling season.

3.2. In the case of access to the market at any other time of year, the carrier shall submit its service schedule at least thirty calendar days before the planned date of commencement of its operations and shall include the schedule of services for the part-period corresponding to the scheduling season in which operations are to commence and the provisional schedule for the rest of the period so as to cover a full twelve months' operation. Starting with the scheduling season following that in which operations commenced, the carrier shall follow the procedure laid down in paragraph 3.1 above.

3.3. Service schedules shall be considered to have been approved if the Directorate-General for Civil Aviation has not delivered an opinion on them within the time limits specified above. In all cases, however, services may be commenced once they have been expressly approved by the Directorate-General for Civil Aviation.

3.4. Air carriers shall undertake to operate their service schedule for a minimum period of twelve consecutive months. If, on a specific route, there is a new entrant or an operator significantly increases its schedule of flights, other carriers operating on that route may choose to maintain their strategy, adjust their service schedule immediately without affecting compliance with the public service obligations, or, if they consider it appropriate, announce their intention not to continue to operate on the route(s) under open conditions beyond the mandatory period. Nevertheless, a carrier may definitively cease providing services if it notifies the Directorate-General for Civil Aviation accordingly at least six months before the planned date of cessation.

4. If, for all the operating carriers combined, load factors on a route in the summer or winter period continuously exceed 75 %, save in the case of seasonal operation of routes, carriers which have an operational service schedule must take the necessary steps to increase the capacity available so as to reduce the percentage specified above, unless they offer more advantageous fares to users, such as those specified at point (a) of paragraph 2, "Fares", in Section III, "Specific Conditions".

5. For the purposes of this text, the terms below shall have the following meanings:

(a) air fare: the price expressed in euros which passengers must pay to air carriers or their agents for transporting them and their baggage by air, and the conditions attached to that price, including taxes, remuneration and commission paid to agencies and other auxiliary services;

(b) basic fare: the lowest fully flexible fare for a single or a return flight which is available to at least the same extent as any other fully flexible fare available for the same air service.

III. Specific conditions

1. The specific conditions associated with the public service obligations for the routes specified in Section I are as follows:

1.1. On the Majorca-Ibiza and Majorca-Minorca routes the timetables shall be such as to guarantee departures between 7.00 and 9.00 and return flights at the end of the day, subject to the limits imposed by airport operating hours. At such times of day, service availability must if necessary be strengthened by adapting aircraft capacity or service frequency to meet the demand for travel. Timetables must be such as to permit both legs of a return journey to be made on the same day with eight hours' stay at the destination. In the case of cargo transport, carriers shall give priority to perishable and urgently needed products such as daily newspapers and medicines, and to products of fundamental importance to the economy of the islands of Minorca and Ibiza, such as jewellery and footwear samples.

1.2. On the Minorca-Ibiza route the public service obligations may be met, in the absence of direct flights, by connections via Majorca, on condition that such connections provide at least one daily link between the two islands with a total flying time not exceeding two hours and permit both legs of a return journey to be made on the same day with a minimum stay of six hours at the destination, unless such obligations are met by flights operated by Community carriers from or to any Community airport which call at one of the islands en route from or to the other island.

1.3. Air carriers shall endeavour, as far as possible, to coordinate their flights to and from Ibiza with the timetables for scheduled maritime transport services between Ibiza and Formentera.

1.4. Air carriers shall at all times adapt the average daily frequencies available to the meet the minimum requirements set out in paragraph 1.5 below.

1.5. The frequencies and the minimum capacity made available by all carriers combined for each period of operation shall be as follows:

(a) Between Majorca and Ibiza

In the winter season, the minimum frequency shall be four return journeys daily. In the summer season, the minimum frequency shall be five return journeys daily.

The minimum capacity available in each direction shall be as follows:

- During the IATA winter season: 63000 seats.

- During the IATA summer season: 107000 seats.

(b) Between Majorca and Minorca:

In the winter season, the minimum frequency shall be four return journeys daily. In the summer season, the minimum frequency shall be five return journeys daily.

The minimum capacity available in each direction shall be as follows:

- During the IATA winter scheduling season: 71000 seats.

- During the IATA summer scheduling season: 110000 seats.

(c) Between Minorca and Ibiza:

Services shall be provided in accordance with paragraph 1.2 of Section III, "Specific Conditions".

2. Fares

The maximum single fare for each of the routes shall be as follows:

(a) Majorca-Ibiza: EUR 72

(b) Majorca-Minorca: EUR 72

(c) Minorca-Ibiza: EUR 101

The Minister for Internal Development (Ministro de Fomento) shall, in January each year, at the request of carriers who operate on routes which are subject to public service obligations, adjust the above fares by an amount to reflect the effects of applying the corresponding annual increase in the national consumer price index (Índice General Nacional del Sistema de Índices de Precios al Consumo) to the costs directly affected by any such annual fluctuation, which are estimated at 73 % of the total cost structure of an air carrier. With regard to all aviation taxes, comprising landing charges, airport approach charges and charges for use of the air navigation aids network, account shall be taken of the increases authorised for each of these charges for the year in question in the Fiscal, Administrative and Social Order Measures Act (Ley de Medidas Fiscales, Administrativas y del Orden Social), which shall be applied to the fares, with up to 4 % of the cost structure being weighted by these increases for each of the above three charges. At all events, the adjustment to the fares shall not affect the abovementioned levels of charges and fares, which shall be payable at the amounts specified. Carriers operating these services shall be informed of the revised fares.

In the event of an increase in other cost components affecting the operation of these air services which is abnormal, unforeseeable and not attributable to the carriers, and acting on a proposal from the air carriers, the Minister for Internal Development may adjust the maximum fare in proportion to that increase. The adjusted fare shall be notified to the carriers operating the services concerned and shall apply within a period which is appropriate to the circumstances. It shall also be communicated to the European Commission for publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Air carriers may set promotional and basic fares, provided that the price levels laid down above are not exceeded, in accordance with the following:

(a) The 75 % occupancy rate laid down in paragraph 4 of Section II, "General Conditions", may be exceeded provided that the price of the fares applied to any such supplementary offer is at least 20 % less than the price of the basic fare registered by the carrier.

(b) Air carriers shall be required to set fares which are lower than their basic registered fares for young persons under 22 years of age, persons aged 65 or over, teams based in the Autonomous Community of the Balearic Islands and sick persons from the islands of Ibiza and Minorca requiring hospital treatment on the island of Majorca. Carriers shall be free to determine the relevant percentage and conditions applicable to such reductions. The discounts applied shall not be less than 10 % of the basic registered fares. In order to benefit from these arrangements, sick persons requiring medical assistance must obtain a certificate from the Balearic Health Service (Sistema Balear de Salud) attesting to the need for transport. In urgent cases, duly certified as such in the aforementioned certificate, the carrier shall be required to transport the person concerned on the flight requested.

(c) Air carriers shall be required to register their fares with the Directorate-General for Civil Aviation no later than 30 calendar days before the planned date of their entry into force. These fares shall be considered to have been approved if the Directorate-General for Civil Aviation has not delivered an opinion on them within 15 calendar days. However, they may enter into force before the time limit specified above if they have been expressly approved.

(d) With regard to fares for the scheduled air services on the routes specified in Section I, the subsidised fare reductions laid down in the legislation in force shall apply, without restriction, to citizens of Spain and of the other Member States of the European Union who are resident in the Balearic Islands.

(e) The conditions for the accreditation of residents and payments made to air carriers in respect of the rebates which have been granted must be in conformity with Royal Decree No 1316 of 30 November 2001 (Real Decreto 1316/2001) governing the granting of rebates in respect of fares for scheduled air and maritime transport services for residents of the Autonomous Communities of the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands and the Cities of Ceuta and Melilla.

The maximum fares laid down in this section may be converted by the Minister for Internal Development, subject to prior notification to the Joint Committee, into reference fares, with margins of variation which shall be determined on the basis of the conditions of competition in the market concerned.

3. Continuity of service

Except in cases of force majeure, the number of flights cancelled for reasons directly attributable to the carrier may not exceed, for each IATA scheduling season, 2 % of the scheduled flights. Except in cases of force majeure, delays may not exceed 30 minutes for 90 % of the flights.

4. Marketing of flights

Seats and services shall be marketed via distribution channels which take account of the characteristics of the services and the need to ensure appropriate information for users at the lowest possible cost.

(1) OJ L 240, 24.8.1992, p. 8.