21st Plenary meeting of EC Thessaloniki Forum

19 November 2024: ERA recently attended the 21st Plenary meeting of the Thessaloniki Forum of Airport Charges. The Forum is currently working on the revision of the paper 'Recommendations on Consultancy and Transparency' adopted in 2016. To this end, the drafting team [EL –leader, FR, IE, BG, DE] has provided ISAs, airline and airport associations with a questionnaire to gather concrete information on the application of EC Directive 2009/12 concerning consultation and transparency in the setting of airport charges. ERA submitted its response to the questionnaire at the beginning of September 2024.

During the 21st Plenary meeting, the drafting team presented the outline of the working paper and summarised the key findings of the replies to the questionnaire. ISAs' responses to the questionnaire revealed different approaches to the consultation process in each country, with the procedure detailed in national legislation (the ACD only setting minimum requirements). In the majority of cases, consultations are conducted in English.

In particular:

• Mixed answers on whether user comments are taken into account.
• Elements justifying the level and structure of charges are sufficiently detailed, especially regarding their link to cost of service (except for the elements deemed business confidential) and further details can be asked during consultation.
• Mixed answers on whether airports consult on service level options.
• Users are consulted on incentives schemes and on new infrastructure and masterplans.
• ISAs only attend consultations, meaning that they mostly have an observer role (i.e., they do not provide guidelines for consultations and transparency and do not evaluate the consultation process).
• ISAs have access to all information provided during the airport charges consultation.
• Consultation procedures are transparent.
• Data most frequently provided by airport managing bodies to airport users include: data required by ACD and/or national legislation, Traffic-Historical data and prospective data, operating costs and revenue, investments, costs and their allocation, tariffs.
• Bilateral agreements are not very common and when existing either no data is provided, or the contents of the agreement are known to all parties (ISA and key points are subjected to the consultation process).
• ISAs believe that should be able to decide and/or require additional information to ensure the transparency of the charging system.

Among the improvements/ suggested measures to enhance the implementation of the ACD:

• Clarifications on cost-relatedness of charges.
• Guidance on how airports should weight the different views of users.
• Environmental parameters and their effects.
• Granularity of information.
• Directive more precise in certain fields.

Next steps: A first draft of the revised paper is expected before the end of the year and the industry (including ERA) will be expected to give feedback before its adoption at the next Plenary.