Air transport regulators for many European regional governments have urged the European Commission to consider the economic impact of airport growth when steering environmental policy over the next 10 years.
Anne Devitt, president of the Airport Regions Conference (ARC), told its annual conference in Brussels last month that the EC needs to apply agreed principles on promoting economic growth in the regions in addition to listening to the anti-aviation green lobby. "If you look at EC strategy, the Lisbon Protocol stresses competitiveness; the Cohesion Policy encourages sharing the wealth with poorer regions; while the Gothenburg Strategy lays down sustainable development goals. The challenge is finding a balance between the three," she says.
Don Jos‚ Javier Morales Febles, Canary Islands minister for external affairs, says: "As an ultra-peripheral region of Europe we understand that airports are not just entry and exit points, but engines of development."
French airport pressure group Ville et A‚roport says the French government in particular needs to understand the need for a balance between economic and environmental concerns, as even the smallest increase in fuel price would threaten regional airports.
The ARC worries that forthcoming policy changes, such as airport slot allocation, may suffer if, for example, all the Cohesion Policy principles are not followed and smaller regional airports will lose conveniently timed air services if market-led pricing is adopted, Devitt says.
Source: Flight International