10 Member States support a declaration on air connectivity

14 December 2021: A note prepared by the delegation of Cyprus on air connectivity was shared with other EU Member States delegations under 'Any other business' at the meeting of the Council (Transport, Telecommunications and Energy) on 9 December 2021.

The declaration stresses that air connectivity remains worryingly at low levels. Load factors remain low across all operators, despite the introduction of the Digital Green Certificate and the resumption of travel within the Union. The resurgence of the virus in many EU member states diminishes the optimism of the past couple of months, jeopardising the gains achieved and putting at risk the economic recovery.

The Member States call for a comprehensive temporary framework to facilitate the speedy recovery of the sector. One of their asks is to protect peripheral and insular Member States that rely mostly or exclusively on aviation for their connectivity needs.

This declaration echoes the one that was issued in June 2021, by Cyprus along with Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, calling on the Commission to take measures to address the connectivity gap across the Union resulting from the ongoing pandemic.

They in particular call for a restart scheme that would help the sector, based on the Cypriot scheme developed at the start of the pandemic.

This initiative wll gain momentum at the beginning of 2022 with the creation of a working group and the organisation of a dedicated conference in Cyprus during the first quarter of 2022.