AviAlliance GmbH
AviAlliance ist einer der weltweit führenden privaten industriellen Flughafeninvestoren.
ID: 341893531421-61
Lobbying Activity
Response to Fitness Check of EU airports legislation
5 Jun 2024
Continue to Incentivize Investments While Fostering Competition and Efficiency AviAlliance welcomes the European Commission's initiative to conduct a fitness check of EU airport legislation. It is a critical measure to advance the efficiency and competitiveness of European air travel and the aviation industry. Airports play a fundamental role in economic growth, connectivity, and regional development. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that the legislative framework governing airport operations is robust, equitable, and responsive to the evolving demands of the aviation landscape. Such a framework needs to promote a well-functioning European air travel industry and support the airports, which provide its infrastructure backbone. Furthermore, the EUs airport legislation should facilitate investments into the decarbonization, digitalization, and security of airports and their ability to offer climate-friendly, affordable intermodal travel that connects Europe with the rest of the world. Summary: The Fitness Check Comes at a Critical Time The European Commission's fitness check is an essential exercise to adapt EU airport legislation to meet the challenges and opportunities facing the aviation sector. A future European regulations regime must continue to support the operational and economic viability of airports as the infrastructure backbone of air travel. As such, it lays the groundwork for a more resilient, competitive, and sustainable European air travel industry. To do so, AviAlliance calls for: Ensuring continuity of the Airport Charges Directive, so that airports will be able to invest in the futureprioritizing environmental stewardship and passenger service excellence. Modernizing the Slot Regulation as a crucial step towards optimizing European airspace, encouraging market entry, and fostering innovation. Together, these measures will empower the European aviation industry to navigate the transition towards a greener, more efficient future, ensuring that it remains a key driver of economic development and connectivity on a global scale.
Read full responseResponse to Evaluation - Groundhandling services at airports
12 Mar 2019
AviAlliance welcomes the Commission’s initiative to review the implementation and functioning of the Groundhandling Directive. Safe and efficient ground handling services are essential to the day-to-day operations of both airports and airlines. As an airport investor present in various European member states, AviAlliance is convinced that current inefficiencies and fragmented practices across Europe can be overcome by adjustments to the current text, more clarity and attention to operational issues.
The liberalization of groundhandling services has been achieved across Europe, even if differences in practices occur. Across European airports groundhandling service providers operate in a competitive environment yet, at times, with inefficiencies that can prevent airports from achieving optimum service quality levels.
We are calling for the revision of the Directive to specifically address the definition of minimum service quality levels and the possibility for airport management to review and consent to service level agreements between airport users and groundhandling service providers.
Minimum service level requirements would ideally extend to defining not only the standards of operations but minimum training and qualification requirements for groundhandling staff members as well. It is essential that, in case of subcontracting, third party handlers operate according to a set level of quality requirements, which are defined in agreement with the airport authority. In order to ensure that minimum standards in service levels are maintained, airport authorities should be able to carry out inspections and impose penalties on defaulting ground handlers.
Even though groundhandling contracts are concluded between airlines and groundhandling service providers, ultimately airport management is accountable and responsible for the overall coordination of the various aviation related services at the airport. Consequently, it is necessary for airport management, to not only have a view of the contractual conditions, but to be able to consent or object to specific provisions in groundhandling contracts that may impact on the operational efficiency of airports.
According to the current Directive, airports can provide their own groundhandling services when independent contractors are not available. Such instances may occur not only when contractors leave the market or go into administration but also when airlines land after the contractually mandated working hours of groundhandling contractors had lapsed. Subsequently, access to groundhandling services provided by airports is an essential element of efficient day-to-day operations, which requires advanced capacity planning. Therefore, we would find it beneficial if the Commission’s review could assess whether the quality of groundhandling services would benefit from the introduction of a mandatory overtime provision for service providers.
AviAlliance GmbH, based in Düsseldorf, is an international airport investor and operator. AviAlliance holds shares and supports the management of a number of European airports, among them Athens, Budapest, Düsseldorf and Hamburg.
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