CELEX: 51990PC0100
Language: en
Date: 1990-05-22
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC ) ON CONSULTATION BETWEEN AIRPORTS AND AIRPORT USERS AND ON AIRPORT CHARGING PRINCIPLES

No C 147/6                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                     16. 6. 90
                                                               II
                                                        (Preparatory Acts)
                                                 COMMISSION
              Proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) on consultation between airports and airport users
                                              and on airport charging principles
                                                      COM(90) WO final
                                       (Submitted by the Commission on 3 April 1990)
                                                         (90/C 147/06)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                            overall functioning of airports, it is necessary that
                                                                    government control services stationed at an airport must
                                                                    actively participate in consultations regarding changes in
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
                                                                    the airport's operations, facilities or development plans;
Economic Community, and in particular Article 84 (2)
thereof,
                                                                    Whereas to foster the efficient use of airport capacity
                                                                    and to permit the access of new entrants to the market
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                    airports must participate in slot allocation procedures
                                                                    and must be informed of proceedings in scheduling
Having regard       to  the  opinion     of  the   European         committees;
Parliament,
                                                                    Whereas authorities responsible for more than one
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                    airport, which constitute a system of interconnected
Social Committee,                                                   airports, must have the option to consult their users on a
                                                                    collective basis so as to limit expenditure on consul-
                                                                    tation;
Whereas the efficient operation of an airport determines
to a large extent the quality of air transport services;
                                                                    Whereas given the need for sufficient administrative and
                                                                    financial resources in order to comply with the
Whereas it is necessary that aeronautical services and              provisions of this Regulation it is confined to operators
facilities provided at airports to aircraft operators and           of larger airports, although operators of smaller airports
passengers are reasonable in quality and range as well as           should also endeavour to consult representatives of users
cost-effective, taking into account their impact on the             on a regular basis;
level of air fares; whereas charges for these services and
facilities should promote the efficient use of available
capacity;                                                           Whereas it is necessary to lay down general principles to
                                                                    which the charges for using airports should conform
                                                                    since, although many airport activities operate in compe-
Whereas regular consultations between airport operators             tition with other economic enterprises, competition
and representatives of users must take place in order to            between airports is relatively limited;
help ensure that airport facilities are used efficiently and
that aeronautical services at airports are cost-related;
                                                                    Whereas users must not only be charged for the airport
                                                                    facilities and services they use, irrespective of the origin
Whereas in order for such consultations to be effective             of the traffic in the Community, but that they must also
and also to better plan future airport requirements, it is          bear their fair share of the cost of providing airport
necessary that airports and users exchange sufficient               facilities and services which are considered essential for
information to identify and explain any changes in                  the efficient, safe and environmentally acceptable func-
airport operations and facilities, charging systems and             tioning of an airport;
levels of charges;
                                                                    Whereas, in certain cases, in conformity with Articles 92
Whereas given that various government controls                      et seq. of the EEC Treaty, the level of airport charges
(immigration, customs) are exercised at the airports and            could be decreased in order to reflect the needs of
constitute an important element of airport procedures               regional policy, when it is a question of linking an
necessitating adequate space and coordination within the            isolated region to which access is difficult;
 ---pagebreak--- 16. 6. 90                              Official Journal of the European Communities                              N o C 147/7
Whereas the financial structure, degree of financial             2.     For the purposes of consultations in accordance
autonomy, and ownership of fixed assets of airports in           with paragraph 1, each authority shall make available to
the Community vary widely;                                       users on an annual basis information concerning its
                                                                 performance which as a minimum shall include the data
Whereas this Regulation is without prejudice to the              specified in Annex I unless, within the limits of national
application of Articles 85, 86, 90 and 92 of the EEC             law, the authority and users agree otherwise.
Treaty,
                                                                 3.     Authorities shall consult users on the application of
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:                                     the definitions and parameters of the data to local
                                                                 circumstances.
                           Article 1
This Regulation relates on the one hand to consultation
procedures and the exchange of information between
airports open to commercial air transport between                                           Article 4
Member States and their users in respect of aeronautical
activities, and, on the other hand to the principles to           1.    An authority shall consult users which are signifi-
which the charges for aeronautical services and facilities       cantly affected by:
at those airports shall conform.
                                                                 (a) important changes in aeronautical services or
                                                                      facilities at the airport, at least four months before
                           Article 2
                                                                      their introduction;
For the purposes of this Regulation:
                                                                      or
(a) airport means any airport situated within the
    Community and open to commercial air transport
    between Member States and with a total throughput            (b) substantial development plans for that airport or any
    of at least one million passengers per annum;                     new airport to be operated by the authority in the
                                                                      same region at any time whenever useful during the
(b) aeronautical services and facilities mean services and            planning stages and at least four months before the
    facilities necessary for the flow of aircraft,                    final decision is taken on important commitments
    passengers, baggage or freight through an airport ;               concerning the different planning stages.
(c) users mean:
                                                                 2.     For the purposes in particular of consultations in
    — representative organizations of air carriers,              accordance with paragraph 1 (a), and in order to
    — air carriers if they are not represented in such           improve the quality of service to users, each authority
         organizations;                                          shall furnish and exchange information with users on the
                                                                 operational performance of an airport and aeronautical
    — representative organizations of other operators of
                                                                 services run by airlines or any other undertaking.
         aircraft using the airport,
    — representative       organizations   of    passengers,
         shippers, freight-forwarders and tour operators         3.     Member States shall ensure that control services
         using the airport, where such organizations exist;      stationed at the airport (e.g. air traffic control, immi-
                                                                 gration services, customs services) shall participate in
(d) authority means an organization responsible in whole         such consultations.
    or in part for one or more airports and in particular
    for aeronautical services and facilities;
                                                                                            •Article 5
(e) charges mean the charges levied at airports on
                                                                  1.    An authority shall consult representative organiz-
     aircraft, passengers, baggage and freight for the
                                                                 ations of aircraft operators at least two months before
    provision and use of aeronautical services and
                                                                 the introduction of important changes in the levels of
     facilities.
                                                                 charges or the imposition of new charges.
                  I. Consultation procedures                     2.     Where the competent governmental authorities in a
                                                                 Member State are responsible for approving charges,
                           Article 3
                                                                 they shall be part of such consultations. When the
1.    The authority shall consult the users of an airport        competent governmental authorities in a Member State
for which it is responsible at least every 12 months on          are responsible for establishing charges they shall consult
the financial and operational performance of the airport         the authority and carry out consultation according to
with respect to its aeronautical services and facilities.        paragraph 1.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 147/8                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                  16. 6. 90
3.     For the purposes of consultations in accordance           consult users on a collective basis for all such airports
with paragraph 1, each authority shall provide sufficient        under its control, provided that separate information is
information to explain any important changes or new              given for each airport with more than one million
developments.                                                    passengers per annum.
                           Article 6                                                        Article 11
A reasonable period of notice shall be given before any          Member States shall encourage authorities responsible
consultations take place.                                        for airports with less than one million passengers per
                                                                 annum to consult users and to provide them with infor-
                           Article 7                             mation along similar lines.
Aircraft operators using an airport and participating in
the consultation, or their representative organizations,                             II. Charging principles
shall make available to each airport authority estimates
of their future traffic trends, scheduling information, the                                 Article 12
characteristics and numbers of aircraft to be used, special       1.   The charges for aeronautical services and facilities
facilities which they may require including ground               shall
handling, fuelling and catering, and other relevant
material in accordance with Annex II. Aircraft operators         (a) encourage the safe, efficient and economical use of
may require that information supplied by them is treated              airport facilities, while taking into account variations
as commercially confidential information. In this case               over time due to congestion problems;
they can refer directly to the authorities.
                                                                 (b) be clear, understandable and non-discriminatory;
                           Article 8                             (c) be reasonably related to the costs of the facilities and
                                                                     services provided which are needed and/or used
Authorities shall be entitled to participate in slot allo-           while including a reasonable return on capital and
cation procedures for their own airport(s) and shall be              taking into account environmental costs;
informed of scheduling conferences where they, and
their representative organization, may attend as                 (d) take into account revenues produced by commercial
observers.                                                           activities linked to aeronautical activities.
                                                                 2.    The costs of aeronautical services and facilities shall
                           Article 9
                                                                 be fully allocated on an equitable basis according to
In the course of consultations all parties involved shall        sound business and economic principles. However, in the
seek agreement as far as possible on any issues                  case of isolated regions to which access is difficult the
considered, changes proposed and alternative options.            needs of regional policy can be taken into consideration
Where agreement cannot be reached in the course of               in conformity with the provisions of the EEC Treaty.
consultations, each authority shall be able to introduce
the changes in question subject where necessary to the                                 III. Final provision
appropriate approval.
                                                                                            Article 13
                          Article 10
                                                                 This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 July 1990.
Where an authority has the responsibility for more than
one airport serving the same city and in the case of the         This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
Balearic Islands and Canary Islands the authority may            directly applicable in all Member States.
 ---pagebreak--- 16. 6. 90                                  Official J o u r n a l of the E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t i e s           N o C 147/9
                                                                     ANNEX      I
                                      INFORMATION O N T H E AIRPORTS' PERFORMANCE
                                                                      I. Traffic
          Annual statistics (l) on the traffic at each airport shall be provided. These shall include at least the
          following:
          1. Number of passengers:
              (a) international:
              (b) intra Community:
              (c) domestic:
              (d) transit ( 2 ):
                                                                                               Total:
          2. Freight ('000 kg):
              (a) international:
              (b) intra Community:
              (c) domestic:
              (d) transit ( 2 ):
                                                                                               Total:
          3. Aircraft movements:
              (a) international:
              (b) intra Community:
              (c) domestic:
              (d) other:
                                                                                               Total:
                                                                  II. Employment
          Annual statistics on staff directly employed by the authority shall be provided. These statistics shall be
          broken down into permanent and temporary staff and also by function. In addition each authority shall
          endeavour to provide information on staff indirectly employed on airport activities at an airport by other
          agencies including the State. The following table is given for guidance as an example of the statistics
          authorities shall endeavour to provide.
          (') These statistics shall be broken down into scheduled and non-scheduled traffic.
          (2) In addition, authorities shall endeavour to provide a breakdown of passenger and freight transfer traffic.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 147/10                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                         16. 6. 90
                                                       Airport employees
                                                                                                Indirectly employed (e.g.
                          Number of employees/function                Directly employed by the by other agencies including
                                                                              authority           the State on airport
                                                                                                 activities at an airport)
          Customs clearance
          Immigration
          Fire service
          Airport terminal air traffic control
           Meteorological service
           Operations and apron services
          Baggage handling
          Check in
           Car parking
           Catering
           Engineering
           Commercial
          Administration
           Other
          Total directly employed by the authority
          Total indirectly employed (by other agencies
          including State on airport activities at an airport)
          Total on site employment
                                                          III. Financial
          Annual accounts, including a balance sheet and a profit and loss account, shall be provided for each
          airport. They shall be sufficient to give a true and fair view of an airport's assets, liabilities, financial
          position and profit or loss. Their layout shall not be changed from one financial year to the next, save in
          exceptional cases. Any such departure must be clearly disclosed, together with an explanation of the
          reasons therefor.
          In the presentation of its revenue for its profit and loss account, each airport shall at least provide the
          following breakdown:
          A. Revenue from aeronautical charges at the airport
              (a) Aircraft landing charges
              (b) Aircraft parking charges
              (c) Passenger charges
              (d) Terminal navigational charges
              (e) Freight charges
              (f) Security charges
              (g) Noise charges
              (h) Other charges e.g. baggage handling
                                                                                          Total
 ---pagebreak--- 16. 6. 90                             Official J o u r n a l of the E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t i e s            N o C 147/11
          B. Non-aeronautical revenue at the airport
               (a) Ground handling services (if provided only by the airport authority or
                   by a monopoly concession holder)
               (b) Concessions:
                   1. commercial concessions
                   2. ground handling
               (c) Rents and services
               (d) Other revenues from concessions
                                                                                                      Total
          C. Total revenue
                                                               ANNEX      II
                    INFORMATION O N AIRCRAFT OPERATORS' PLANNING O F OPERATIONAL
                                             PERFORMANCE AT T H E AIRPORT
                                                                I. Traffic
          Forecast of next year's traffic trends at the airport as regards:
          1. Number of passengers:
              (a) international:
              (b) intra Community:
              (c) domestic:
              (d) transit:
          2. Freight ('000 kg):
              (a) international:
              (b) intra Community:
              (c) domestic:
              (d) transit:
          3. Aircraft movements:
              (a) international:
              (b) intra Community:
              (c) domestic:
              (d) transit:
          4. Types of aircraft to be used:
              (a) regularly:
              (b) alternatively:
          Additionally, aircraft operators' intentions at the airport on operation expansions concerning passenger and
          freight services (i.e. new routes, frequencies, hubbing) for the next five years planning period.
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 147/12                              Official J o u r n a l of the E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t i e s          16. 6. 90
                                                                II. Fleet planning
           Estimates of characteristics and numbers of aircraft to be used at the airport during the next 15 years, by
           traffic segments.
                                                        III. Special facilities needed
           1. Terminal facilities (m 2 ):
               (a) for frequent use:
               (b) for eventual use:
           2. Cargo storage facilities (m J ):
               (a) for frequent use:
               (b) for eventual use:
           3. Maintenance facilities (m 2 ):
               (a) for frequent use:
               (b) for eventual use:
           4. Apron space (m2)
               — wide body aircraft
               — normal body aircraft
               (a) for frequent use:
               (b) for eventual use:
           5. Offices (m 2 ):
           6. Car park stands (number):
                                                                 IV. Employment
           Number of employees expected to work at the airport for aircraft operator by the end of the following
           year:
            1. permanently:
           2. temporarily:                           ,