Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-10-11-Speech-4-029"
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"en.20071011.4.4-029"2
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".
Madam President, Commissioner, on behalf of the Committee on Regional Development, I should like to congratulate Mrs Jensen on her excellent work.
Technical and organisational issues are very important in relation to airport capacity. A holistic approach to the issue should be adopted, however, with reference also to the local and regional environment of airports. Air transport has helped to improve territorial, economic and social cohesion, especially in the case of areas far from the centres. The existence of such links is often decisive when it comes to placing investments and receiving tourists. In a nutshell, these links are vital to a region’s development. Airports are also important in terms of job creation. The Member States, regional and local authorities must ensure that airports, regardless of their governing bodies, are included in regional spatial planning plans and national development strategies. There should also be coordination at European network level.
Airport location should be determined not so much by the ambitions of the authorities involved as by the logic of each situation. There are cases within the Union where fairly large conurbations located less than 100 kilometres apart each have separate airports. It would be sensible for a single airport to serve both towns. The location of airports should be chosen to enable them to serve neighbouring and border regions. Where possible, intermodal solutions should be put in place, because fast rail connections between airports significantly increase their capacity. It is of course also essential to provide good transport links between airports and city centres in their hinterland.
The maintenance and extension of existing airports and the construction of new ones must be subject to the relevant territorial impact assessment. This is particularly necessary in connection with the natural environment, in terms of noise, emission of pollutants, road traffic density in the vicinity of the airport, the proximity of fuel tanks, and also in relation to meteorological factors.
Finally, I should like to say on the basis of my own experience and my constituents’ statements, that issues relating to airport capacity involve much more than technical matters, air traffic control systems and coordinating take-offs and landings. The organisation of the tasks concerned is also relevant, and all too often it is very poor indeed. Personal checks on passengers are one example. Mr Mann referred to Frankfurt airport, where passengers are checked twice, whereas once might be sufficient. A good deal of time is wasted at baggage collection too. Even in the case of reputable airlines, delays are constantly being experienced supposedly for technical reasons. Perhaps the real reason is plain incompetence?
It is not unusual for passengers at an airport to feel they are unwelcome and a nuisance. They are given the impression that they are simply getting in the way of the staff and upsetting working arrangements by their presence. People need and want to fly, however, the disabled included. Air transport services offered by carriers and airports should be provided safely and punctually. Passengers should be treated with respect at all times. Both sides would then be happy. The Commissioner’s statement gives me reason to hope that this will one day be the case."@en1
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