Aviation Intelligence Reporter – December 2014 / January 2015
Is the Hurly Burly Done Yet?
We Need to Talk About Airport Charges
Stockholm on the Great Lakes
Mr Tyler Goes to Brussels
Tracking the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference
A Level Playing Field? Level for Some
European Court of Justice Steps Up
The Cost of ‘Not Europe’? The Parliament Wonders
General Aviation: Engine for Growth, or Engine for Regulatory Curiosities
Bread and Circuses
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click hereIs the Hurly Burly Done Yet?
Rome has been a centre of power for more than two millennia. It is practiced at nonchalance in the face of might. Admittedly, the combined forces of the European Union’s Single Sky Committee appearing, invited, to force progress on the increasingly intractable SES2+ package hardly counts as Hannibal and his elephants at the gates. As threats to the good governance of the city go it was more puny than Punic.
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We Need to Talk About Airport Charges
Airport charges are the new ground zero. They have been a topic of interest for a long time, but the airlines think that they are a free kick. Airlines attack airport charges as a proxy for the failure of governments to intervene to protect them generally. Whilst the tone of the attack has softened since the departure of Giovanni Bisignani from IATA, the song remains the same. ‘Enough!’ the airports are now saying. They are fighting back.
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Stockholm on the Great Lakes
IATA felt it appropriate to have an entire session at its AGM on regulation called ‘Where is the Love?’ In Chicago, pilgrim, in Chicago. The rest of the regulatory world may want maturity and responsibility from the airlines, but for ICAO the airlines will always be the favourite child. The legacy airlines beam that love straight back at ICAO.
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Mr Tyler Goes to Brussels
With great fanfare IATA’s DG Tony Tyler dropped in on Brussels at the end of November. He came bearing a gift, which was duly announced by press release, press round-table and much noise. Passengers stranded by an airline in Europe can now fly home on another IATA carrier by paying a to-be-determined fare, presumably cheaper than a one-way ticket. That is all very well, except, as you unwrap the gift, you quickly see that IATA is getting into Christmas mode early. They are re-gifting something that has been on the shelf for many years.
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Tracking the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference
As amazing as this might be to report, not enough attention is paid to the goings on at the International Telecommunications Union Plenipotentiary Conference. We should pay more attention. Aircraft tracking has become a big deal, post MH370, and the inter-intergovernmental friendly rivalry between ICAO and the ITU has flared again. As we have previously reported, there is something of a race on to take control of this area.
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A Level Playing Field? Level for Some
With a whimper, not a bang, the outrage over Etihad’s acquisition of a major stake of Alitalia was resolved with the divestiture of slots between Rome and Belgrade. That’s it? Really? If you were to believe the legacy carriers at the time, this was the line in the sand, the end of the world. Nothing short of flat denial was appropriate. This transaction kept a zombie airline alive in a region ripe for consolidation, not more competition.
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European Court of Justice Steps Up
The Aviation Intelligence Reporter is not slow to point out the foibles of the European Court of Justice, so it is with a sense of fairness that we report this month on a sensible decision from the bench. Yes, a ‘man bites dog’ moment.
The Cost of ‘Not Europe’? The Parliament Wonders
You may not be surprised to learn that the European Parliament is very keen to quantify just how valuable the concept of an ever closer Europe is. To do that, you need to know what the value of ‘Not Europe’ would be. You will be pleased to know that both the Commission and the Parliament each have staff dedicated to calculating the cost of Not Europe. The Commission’s is the European Added Value Unit in the Directorate for Impact Assessment. The Parliament sees that and raises it the European Added Value group from its Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services.
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General Aviation: Engine for Growth, or Engine for Regulatory Curiosities
By Philippe Renz, Meyer Avocats, Geneva
Just as EASA gets to work on a revision of the basic Regulation (EC) 216/2008 and aims to lighten the legal requirements for General Aviation, it has tarnished its good intentions with some new regulatory curiosities which perplexes even this lawyer, sympathetic towards the work of the authority.
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Bread and Circuses
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