Commission notice pursuant to Article 4(1)(a) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2408/92 — Imposition of a public service obligation on scheduled air services within Italy   (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2006-12-14
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Italy, air transport, airline, inland transport, public service

14.12.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 305/13

Commission notice pursuant to Article 4(1)(a) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2408/92

Imposition of a public service obligation on scheduled air services within Italy

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2006/C 305/05)

Pursuant
to Article 4(1)(a) of Council Regulation (EEC)
No 2408/92 of 23 July 1992 on access for Community air
carriers to intra-Community air routes, the Italian Government
has decided, in accordance with the decisions taken at an inter-
departmental conference with the Region of Sicily, to impose a
public service obligation on scheduled air services on the
following routes:

— between 1 May and 30 October,

in addition to
these two flights, there are to be three flights per
week in each direction, on Friday, Saturday and
Sunday, using a 44-seater aircraft.

(b) Lampedusa — Palermo and vice versa

1. Routes concerned

Pantelleria — Palermo and vice versa

Lampedusa — Palermo and vice versa

Lampedusa — Catania and vice versa

Lampedusa — Rome and vice versa

Pantelleria — Rome and vice versa

In accordance with Annex II
to Regulation (EEC) No
2408/92, Rome as a destination is to be understood as the
Rome airport system, comprising Rome-Fiumicino and
Rome-Ciampino.

1.1. By virtue of Article 9 of Council Regulation (EEC) No
95/93 of 18 January 1993 on common rules for the allo-
cation of slots at Community airports, as amended by
Commission Regulation (EC) No 793/2004, the competent
authorities may reserve certain slots for the operation of
services under the terms specified in this notice.

The minimum frequencies are as follows:

— at

least one flight per day in each direction

throughout the year using a 44-seater aircraft;

— at

least one flight per day in each direction

throughout the year using a 120-seater aircraft;

— between 1 May and 30 October,

in addition to
these two flights, there are to be three flights per
week in each direction, on Friday, Saturday and
Sunday, using a 44-seater aircraft.

(c) Lampedusa — Catania and vice versa

The minimum frequencies are as follows:

— between 31 October and 30 April, at least three
flights per week in each direction using a 44-seater
aircraft;

— between 1 May and 30 October, at least one flight
per day in each direction using a 44-seater aircraft.

1.2. The above routes must be accepted in their entirety and as

(d) Lampedusa — Rome and vice versa

a whole by the carriers concerned.

The minimum frequency is as follows:

1.3. ENAC will verify whether the accepting carriers possess
the requisite structure and meet the minimum require-
ments for access to the service in order to meet the objec-
tives pursued by the imposition of the public service obli-
gation.

2. Details of the public service obligation

2.1. Minimum frequencies

(a) Pantelleria — Palermo and vice versa

The minimum frequencies are as follows:

— at

least one flight per day in each direction

throughout the year using a 44-seater aircraft;

— at

least one flight per day in each direction

throughout the year using a 120-seater aircraft;

— between 1 October and 31 May, at

two
flights per week in each direction using a 120-
seater aircraft.

least

(e) Pantelleria — Rome and vice versa

The minimum frequency is as follows:

— between 1 October and 31 May, at least one flight
per week in each direction using a 120-seater
aircraft.

If an aircraft normally used to carry out public service
operations is not operational, an alternative aircraft must
be provided within four hours.

The whole capacity of each aircraft must be made avail-
able for sale under the public service obligation arrange-
ments.

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EN

Official Journal of the European Union

14.12.2006

2.2. Timetables

Between Pantelleria and Palermo there must be at least:

— one flight leaving between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m.;

— one flight leaving between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Between Palermo and Pantelleria there must be at least:

— one flight leaving between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m.;

port of persons with disabilities (WCHR, WCHS, WCHC)
and of stretchers, coffins and, if necessary, goods.

The carrier which accepts the public service obligation
must, subject to safety considerations which may justify
denied boarding, make every effort
to facilitate the
carriage, on the aircraft used, of passengers with disabil-
ities and passengers with reduced mobility.

— one flight leaving between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.

2.4. Fares

Between Lampedusa and Palermo there must be at least:

— one flight leaving between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m.;

(a) The maximum fares to be charged on each route are

as follows:

— one flight leaving between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Pantelleria — Palermo or vice versa:

EUR 29

Between Palermo and Lampedusa there must be at least:

— one flight leaving between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m.;

— one flight leaving between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Between Lampedusa and Catania and vice versa, Lampe-
dusa and Rome and vice versa and Pantelleria and Rome
and vice versa, timetables must allow connections with
the network of scheduled national and international air
services from Catania and Rome respectively.

2.3 Aircraft used and capacity offered

The services from Pantelleria to Palermo and vice versa
and from Lampedusa to Palermo and vice versa must be
operated using pressurised twin-prop or twin-jet aircraft
with a minimum capacity of 44 seats per flight and by
aircraft with a minimum capacity of 120 seats per flight
as specified in points 2.1(a) and 2.1(b) respectively.

The services from Lampedusa to Catania and vice versa
must be operated using pressurised twin-prop or twin-jet
aircraft with a minimum capacity of 44 seats per flight as
specified in point 2.1(c).

The Lampedusa-Rome and Pantelleria-Rome services must
be operated using aircraft with a minimum capacity of
120 seats per flight as specified in points 2.1(d) and 2.1(e)
respectively.

If the market so requires, extra capacity must be provided
through supplementary flights, which will not give rise to
extra compensation or result in the application of fares
different from those specified at 2.4 below.

On all the above services there will be a reserve of three
seats to be used for urgent medical or health cases or to
meet the requirements of official bodies. Of these three
seats, two may not be booked or sold until 24 hours
before departure and one until 12 hours before departure.

Flights carried out using aircraft with a minimum capacity
of 120 seats must offer adequate guarantees for the trans-

Lampedusa — Palermo or vice versa:

EUR 31

Lampedusa — Catania or vice versa:

EUR 31

Lampedusa — Rome or vice versa:

EUR 60

Pantelleria — Rome or vice versa:

EUR 60

All the fares indicated are exclusive of VAT and net of
airport taxes and charges — no form of surcharge
may be applied.

All passengers who travel on these routes will be
entitled to the above fares.

At least one method of distributing and selling tickets
must be provided which is entirely free of charge and
imposes no other costs on passengers.

(b) Every year the competent authorities will adjust the
maximum fares in line with the rate of inflation of the
previous year calculated on the basis of the ISTAT/FOI
general consumer price index. Adjustments will be
notified to all carriers operating the routes in question
and to the European Commission for publication in
the Official Journal of the European Union.

(c) If the average euro/US dollar exchange rate and/or the
average cost of fuel the varies by more than 5 % over
the half-year, the fares must be adjusted in proportion
to such variation and to the share of flight costs repre-
sented by fuel.

Any fare adjustments will be made every six months by
the Minister for Transport, in agreement with the Presi-
dent of the Region of Sicily. In the event of an increase in
excess of the indicated percentage,
the Joint Technical
Committee will initiate the procedure for deciding on an
adjustment upon receiving notice from the carriers oper-
ating the routes concerned. In the event of a decrease, the
procedure will be initiated automatically. During the
abovementioned examination procedure, the carriers oper-
ating the routes concerned must be given an opportunity
to comment.

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 305/15

Any adjustment to fares will take effect as from the six-
month period following that in which it is decided.

reasons directly attributable to the carrier, excepting
force majeure;

Adjustments will be notified to all carriers operating on
the routes and to the European Commission for publica-
tion in the Official Journal of the European Union.

2.5. Continuity of service

For the purpose of guaranteeing the continuity, regularity
and punctuality of the service, the carrier which accepts
the public service obligation must undertake to:

— operate the service for a period of at least 12 consecu-
tive months and give at least 6 months' prior notice of
suspension;

— align its conduct vis-à-vis users with the principles set
out in the Charter of Passengers' Rights in order to
comply with the relevant national, Community and
international rules;

— provide a performance security of EUR 800 000,00
for the purpose of guaranteeing the correct perfor-
mance and continuation of the service. This must take
the form of an insurance bond to ENAC (the Italian
National Civil Aviation Authority), which may use it
to ensure the continuation of the public service obliga-
tion arrangements;

— operate at least 98 % of the flights scheduled each
year, with a maximum cancellation margin of 2 % for

— pay the regulatory body EUR 3 000,00 in respect of
each flight cancelled in excess of
the 2 % annual
cancellation limit. Sums received in this connection
will be allocated to the territorial continuity heading of
the budget of Sicily;

— guarantee that
minutes of
index);

the

flights are operated to within 30
(punctuality

established timetable

— compensate each passenger for any delay of more
than 30 minutes by giving a credit of EUR 15,00 to
be used in the purchase of a subsequent ticket.

The abovementioned rules will not apply to cancelled
flights and flights delayed due to weather conditions,
industrial action or events beyond the responsibility and/
or control of the carrier.

The penalties under this section may be combined with
those under Legislative Decree No 69 of 27 January 2006
laying down provisions governing penalties for contraven-
tion of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 establishing
common rules on compensation and assistance to passen-
gers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation
or long delay of flights.