Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-02-02-Speech-1-192"
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Mr President, Commissioner, until now the general and business aviation sector has not been addressed specifically at European level. The political significance of this report therefore derives from the fact that this is the first time that the Commission and Parliament have examined this activity, at a time when it is recording accelerated growth both in volume and in economic importance.
The fourth and last point refers to the environmental sustainability of this area of activity. Although the CO
emissions of small aircraft are lower, it is still necessary to promote research, development and innovation, not only within the framework of the Clean Sky and CESAR (Cost Effective Small Aircraft) initiatives, but also in the use of less polluting engines and cleaner fuels.
I would like to end, Mr President and Commissioner, by expressing the hope that this report represents a real framework for future legislative and regulatory measures which may be drawn up for the sector. That is the wish of the Committee on Transport and Tourism when it calls on the Commission to report by the end of 2009 on the progress achieved on the issues raised in the report. With tomorrow’s vote, my expectation is that this wish will be shared by a large majority of the Members of this House.
The numbers speak for themselves: in business aviation alone, small and medium-sized enterprises working in this field are multiplying, the number of aircraft is expected to double to 3 500 in the next decade and annual turnover amounts to more than EUR 25 billion. Directly or indirectly, it generates 154 000 jobs across Europe. Together with general aviation, where it is calculated that there are between 30 000 and 50 000 aircraft, the sector represents around 9% of all recorded air traffic and boasts the fastest growth in Europe, twice as high as that of all other traffic.
The business aviation segment offers important social and economic benefits: by providing flexible point-to-point transportation it increases citizens’ mobility, companies’ productivity and regional cohesion.
The general aviation sector provides essential services in very diverse areas, from search-and-rescue aviation to firefighting, traffic regulation, cartography and leisure and sports aviation. It is also an important source of professional skills for the entire aviation sector.
I must also mention European industry in this sector, which has been showing continuous growth in its world market share, which currently hovers around 16% and which it is therefore necessary to support.
Looking at the report itself, I agree, as rapporteur, with the need emphasised by the Commission in its communication to examine the specific needs of the sector and identify its central themes. The former relate to data collection and are based on the necessity of providing political decision-makers with sufficient data and statistical information to give them a better understanding of the sector so that they can regulate it adequately. The second point relates to the application of the principle of proportionality in regulating the sector. The key question is whether the rules designed to govern the operation of commercial aircraft will be adequate for operating simpler and smaller, often single-engine aircraft.
We support the Commission in its intention to apply the principle of proportionality both in drafting the rules and in their implementation, always bearing in mind the necessity of not compromising safety in general. This is the case, for example, with the adaptation of certain airworthiness rules, already adopted by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), to operations with non-commercial aircraft, or the possible application of specific rules with regard to simplified security and passenger screening procedures in business aviation.
The third point concerns the problem of access to airports and airspace. The diagnosis has been made: these aircraft generally have difficulty in accessing large airports and are starting to have the same problems in regional and secondary airports. The solutions range from optimising the use of existing capacity to perhaps revising the regulations on slots. It is also necessary to stimulate investment in small and medium-sized airports to provide increasing interconnections between the different European regions and cities.
As regards the question of airspace capacity, we stress the importance of reforms within the framework of the Single European Sky and the SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research) Joint Undertaking and, once again, we come back to the need not to impose disproportionate demands on small aircraft in terms of navigation equipment, while always complying with safety limits."@en1
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