Debate: Addressing persistent challenges in the aviation sector and the impacts on passengers, workers, capacity and safety
Date: MONDAY, 12 DECEMBER 2022
Speaker: Adina-Ioana Vălean
Language: EN

Aviation has faced unprecedented challenges in the past couple of years. COVID was a huge blow. Not only did traffic drop to zero, but we saw how difficult it is to scale back after two years of travel restrictions. The financial consequences of the COVID crisis will weigh on the sector for a long time. Add to this the war in Ukraine and the sanctions on Russia, which continue to complicate air space use while also driving up energy prices. We have also witnessed the impact of increasing extreme weather events, challenging flight paths and conditions, as well as reminding us of the importance of decarbonising aviation. And there is a diversification of air traffic, with more unmanned aircraft systems due to enter our airspace in the next years. Disruption is the new normal, so we need to work on building up the resilience and adaptation of aviation so that Europeans can continue to benefit from its opportunities, both as passengers and as workers. With the Fit for 55 package we have already made enormous steps to decarbonise aviation. So it’s good to also focus during tonight’s debate on different challenges of the sector, namely the ones for passengers, workers, capacity and safety. Let me start with passengers. Our regulation on air passengers’ rights provides already today the highest level of protection to air passengers at a global level. During the pandemic and over the summer, we made it clear that it was the duty of airlines to respect those rights. We worked with national consumer authorities to ensure the proper enforcement of EU consumer protection laws. The passengers must come first, otherwise there is no trust. And if there is no trust, there will be no market. Although we have a relatively robust system in place, there are some issues that could be better addressed. In particular, a large part of European citizens are still unaware of their rights as air passengers. Even when they are entitled to financial compensation, many of them give up in front of administrative difficulties during the complicated handling process. Already in 2013, the Commission tabled amendments to the Air Passenger Rights Regulation with a view to clarify and simplify the existing rules, provide passengers with more effective complaint handling procedures and strengthen enforcement. I would like to see this proposal being discussed again in Council as we believe it is still fit for purpose. The Commission also intends to make new proposals next year. My services are currently assessing the possibility of new protections in the event of insolvency of carriers or liquidity crises. We are also investigating the possibility of new rights for passengers travelling multimodal.  Aviation is an ecosystem. It cannot work unless all parts of the system are functioning properly. Airlines, airports, air traffic controllers, ground handlers and other workers and service providers. All parts are reliant on each other and, naturally, all parts are reliant on the people that they employ. So ensuring high quality and sustainable employment in the aviation sector must be a priority. During the pandemic, we worked with Commissioner Schmidt to help workers keep stable working environments and income whilst also helping businesses stay afloat and able to retain staff. We have also launched a range of short and long—term initiatives aimed at promoting and supporting high social standards in the aviation sector, as well as bringing in more women to the sector. Namely, we have set up expert group working groups to provide recommendations and best practices on key employment issues such as self-employment, the enforcement of applicable labour law oversight, the role of intermediaries and pay to fly schemes. The Commission is also fully committed to ensuring that the legal framework in aviation is fit for purpose in this post-pandemic era. We have been conducting a thorough review of the regulatory framework to determine which improvements are needed, as announced in our Smart and Sustainable Mobility strategy.  Clarifying concepts such as operational base or nature of employment could be helpful. We are looking into this. This is, however, a larger issue than the scope of the service regulation. Finding the right solutions needs joint efforts on the Member States side as well, because the enforcement of high social standards is primarily the role of the competent national authorities. And then, of course, it is first and foremost for the employers themselves to ensure that working conditions are sufficient to attract and retain staff. Social dialogue should give the opportunity to agree on acceptable conditions. And of course we support this. In fact, we organised many stakeholder coordination meetings over the summer to support dialogue and joint solutions. In those meetings, a key issue we discussed was also capacity. Flight numbers in 2022 are near pre—COVID levels, around 85% of 2019 traffic levels in most parts of the European network, and above 2019 levels in some parts of the network last summer. And this in a much more constrained airspace due to the impact of the Russian war on Ukraine. Capacity constraints and air traffic management delays do not bode well for next summer and we risk returning to a major capacity crisis in the European skies as already experienced before COVID.  So there is no time to spare. And the single European sky reform currently in negotiation between the Parliament and the Council is absolutely necessary to drive efficiency and address unnecessary emissions from congestion problems. I am counting on you to help find solutions to take this reform forward.  Finally, let me stress that in everything that we do, safety is always our number one consideration. The European aviation safety system is recognised globally as being one of the safest. But here, too, there are new challenges. An important effect of the COVID crisis was that much of the regular income for aviation safety oversight, which stems from industry fees and charges, was lost, thus limiting resources. Part of our work under the single European Sky Pillar is to help authorities prioritise those resources adequately by setting performance term targets, including on safety. And of course, we rely on IASA as our trusted partner in developing a robust regulatory safety framework and ensuring its oversight and implementation. This is all the more important given new challenges such as the integration of drones into our traditional aviation system or safety and security threats, including cybersecurity, that are heightened in the current geopolitical context. We are constantly monitoring the situation and responding to these issues in full cooperation with you and national oversight authorities and with industry. So thank you very much for listening to me. And it’s my turn to listen to you all, which I will do with pleasure.