EC report on current trends and issues in EU transport

9 July 2024: The European Commission has released an overview of the latest developments in the EU transport sector, highlighting trends and issues for both the EU and individual Member States. For each country in the European Union, the report includes an overview of the strategic planning in terms of transport – though the development of the TEN-T networks and decisions linked to transport in the national Recovery and Resilience plan – the country specific recommendations and the national energy and climate plans.

Aligned with the EU’s Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy, the report outlines the current situation on the path to reduce transport greenhouse gas emissions by 90 per cent by 2050. The Commission is working to make all transport modes more sustainable, promoting efficient, multimodal transport systems and encouraging the adoption of new mobility technologies like drones, autonomous vehicles, hydrogen-powered aircraft and electric waterborne transport. This effort is supported by investments from Horizon Europe and the Connecting Europe Facility.

The report also covers transport resilience, emphasising the need for recovery investments to modernise and green the sector, strengthen the Single Market and complete the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), while ensuring safe and secure mobility. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of maintaining supply chains and co-ordinated connectivity.

Concerning aviation, the report outlined that the creation of the aviation Single Market has produced significant socio-economic benefits for passengers, businesses and regions. The fostering of competition in the market has contributed to making air travel affordable, to creating jobs and to stimulate businesses. Today, air traffic has more than a billion passengers travelling through some 500 European airports since 2019.

However, challenges remain with regards to the functioning of the EU aviation market, especially when it comes to sustainability. The Single European Sky (SES) still remains incomplete and the current fragmentation of airspace leads to inefficiencies, additional fuel burn and extra costs for the whole aviation value chain. In addition, the ongoing and expected consolidation in the air services sector may require regulatory changes relating to air services and airports to ensure that consumers benefit from a competitive market that delivers affordable connectivity.

The report is available at the following link.