May/June 2024

European election fever

As we start to move towards the summer months, we draw closer to this year’s upcoming EU elections and voting for Members of the European Parliament who will influence laws that affect daily life and address global challenges collectively. As the current five- year term is coming to an end, elections across the EU will take place between 6–9 June. The elections will also affect the European Commission (EC) and those in key leadership positions who will thus influence future European regulation. To read about the elections in full, please see page 6 of the magazine. Updates on the election results and their influence on the future of our industry will be outlined in our next issue of Regional International.

Meeting with DG MOVE

Several ERA Board members joined the ERA team in a meeting with Magda Kopczynska, Director General for Mobility and Transport, DG MOVE at the EC to discuss issues affecting air transport in Europe.

The meeting reaffirmed that as a sector, regional aviation reaches the EU objective of regional development, cohesion and connectivity and that our industry is willing to contribute and support the EU in these efforts. The air services provided by ERA’s airline members are essential to achieving this objective, for citizens and businesses, passengers and cargo. We stressed during the meeting the importance that EU policy acknowledges the different types of business models that our airlines operate, and takes into consideration in any impact assessment the increasing and disproportionate costs that our airlines assume when operating primarily only in the European airspace, for example, the EU Emissions Trading System, consumer rights, RefuelEU and tankering, Book and Claim, Public Service Obligations and other matters that affect connectivity and competitiveness, to name but a few. In summary #ThinkRegional!

New rulings on US consumer rights legislation

Last month, the US Department of Transportation issued two major passenger rights rules requiring automatic refunds of airline tickets and ancillary service fees. Under the rules, passengers are entitled to a refund for cancelled or significantly changed flights, significantly delayed baggage return and extra services not provided, for example, a refund for services booked that an airline fails to provide such as WiFi or seat selection. This is a new and interesting development on consumer rights and an issue we will monitor going forward as we push for improvements and clarity, as we are concerned such an approach may be raised during Europe’s own consumer rights legislation review.

Sustainable travel and tourism

ERA joined nine associations from the European travel and tourism sectors in April, together with the Greek Prime Minister, the Minister of Tourism and the Governor of the South Aegean Region, to sign a joint declaration asking for decisive action from the institutions towards more sustainable travel and tourism. The declaration will serve as a roadmap to strengthen the focus on the value of tourism and foster collaboration with the EU institutions. It also confirmed our industry’s commitment to prioritise decarbonisation and enhance working with policymakers.

Forthcoming events

This year’s main members’ event, the ERA General Assembly, will take place in Seville on 8–10 October. Registration is now open for all ERA members to register to confirm their place at our premier annual event via www.eraa.org. To view all our forthcoming meetings, including the next Industry Affairs and Environmental and Social Group meeting on 20–21 June, please visit our online calendar here. A full report on our latest Air Safety Group meeting that took place at the end of April can be found on page 40.