Contributions Sent in Response to the Consultation
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“Your Voice” Consultation on the impact assessment for a possible revision of Directive 96/67 on the access to the groundhandling market at EU airport Detail of responses The "Your Voice" Public Consultation on the impact assessment for a possible revision of Directive 96/67 on "the access to the groundhandling market at EU airports" was posted on the Europa website (“Your Voice”) between 4 December 2009 and the 17 February 2010. The full text of the consultation is still available at: http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air/consultations/doc/2010_02_12_groundhandling_consultation.pdf The present document gives the full text of the responses submitted to the public consultation for a possible revision of directive 96/67 on the access to the groundhandling market at EU airports. Before each answer, the text of the relevant question and its numbering in the consultation questionnaire are also indicated as contextual information. Attention is drawn on the fact that this document only contains contributions made by respondents who agreed to make their contribution public (66 contributions out of 103). The responses are classified according to the type of respondents (Airlines or airlines' association, then airports or airports' associations, etc.) in alphabetical order. The type of respondents was defined by the respondents themselves as a part of the consultation. Here is the list of respondents whose contribution is published in this document: Airlines of airlines' associations 1. Association of German Airlines (BDF – Bundesverband der Deutschen Fluggesellschaften e.V.) 2. SWISS International Air Lines 3. Cathay Pacific Airways Limited 4. SAS Scandinavian Airlines 5. easyJet 6. EUROPEAN REGIONS AIRLINE ASSOCIATION (ERA) 7. European Federation of AOC - EFA 8. ASSOCIATION OF EUROPEAN AIRLINES 9. Cargo Working Group - A.O.C. Milan Malpensa Airport (Italy) 10. Board of Airline Representatives in Switzerland 11. LOT Polish Airlines S.A. 12. ABBA - Alliance of ACMAB, BAR, BATA, AOC 13. IACA - International Air Carrier Association 14. International Air Transport Association (IATA) Airports or airports' associations 15. Airports Council International Europe (ACI EUROPE) 16. Cork Airport, Dublin Airport Authority 17. Infratil Airports Europe Limited 18. Belfast International Airport Limited 19. Exeter International Airport 20. Flughafen Hamburg GmbH 21. Airport Users Committee Heathrow (AUC) 22. BAA 23. Gatwick Airport Limited 24. Flughafen München GmbH 25. Mitteldeutsche Flughafen AG 26. Letiště Praha, a.s. - 1 - 27. ‘Polish Airports’ State Enterprise – Warsaw Fryderyk Chopin Airport 28. Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Verkehrsflughäfen e.V. (ADV) 29. Société de l'aéroport de Luxembourg SA 30. Cologne Bonn Airport 31. Manchester Airports Group plc Associations/NGOs 32. Malta Business Aviation Association 33. European Express Association (EEA) 34. Belgian Airfreight Institute BAFI Freight integrators 35. Deutsche Post DHL Groundhandling providers or groundhandling providers' associations 36. IAHA European Regional Group 37. Servisair UK Limited 38. Globalia Handling 39. Vereinigung der Dienstleister an Deutschen Flughäfen e.V. (VDF) 40. DC Aviation Ltd. 41. PETROLOT Ltd., PL 02-159 Warsaw, J. Gordona Bennetta Str. 2, 42. Asociación de Empresas de Servicios de Asistencia en Tierra en aeropuertos(ASEATA) National governments 43. DG Bulgarian Civil Aviation Administration 44. ENAC – Italian civil aviation authority 45. Belgian Civil Aviation Authority 46. Gazdasági Versenyhivatal - Hungarian Competition Authority 47. LFV Group of Airports and ANS, SWEDEN 48. Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development 49. DGAC (Direction Générale de l’Aviation Civile française) 50. Civil Aviation Office - Poland 51. DG. Civil Aviation 52. Civil Aviation Authority 53. Civil Aviation Authority Other 54. Norton Rose LLP 55. Air Transport Users Council Regional governments 56. The State Ministry for Economic and Labour Affairs of the Free and Hanseatic City of Unions and workers' associations 57. Swedish Transport Workers Union 58. ACV-CSC TRANSCOM (ACV TRANSPORT EN COMMUNICATIE 59. STHA - SINDICATO DE TRABAJADORES DE HANDLING EN AEROPUERTOS DE ESPAÑA 60. European Transport Workers ' Federation 61. United Services Union - Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft, ver.di 62. union workers Citizens 63. citizen 1 64. citizen 2 65. citizen 3 66. citizen 4 - 2 - Respondent details (questions (1) and (2)) Your response is made on behalf of: An organisation Association of German Airlines (BDF – Bundesverband der Deutschen Fluggesellschaften e.V.) Airline or airlines' association Do you want to make your contribution public? Yes (3) Please can you identify your role and interest in the potential revision of the Groundhandling Directive? (Open-ended box) The Association of German Airlines (BDF) represents most of Germany's air carriers (scheduled, charter and low fare). Our member airlines transport more than 120 million passengers worldwide. The BDF associated airlines employ more than 120.000 people. (4) Do you think specific rules regarding subcontracting would need to be introduced, for part or all groundhandling activities? If so, what should these rules contain? Please specify the advantages and disadvantages of your suggestions, as well as their economic, social and environmental impacts. (Open-ended box) BDF believes that no unreasonable restrictions should be placed on licensed ground handlers (third party and selfhandling) who wish to subcontract, provided that any subcontractor is subject to the same general conditions as the main contractor. All market participants should be allowed to subcontract. However, BDF recognizes that subcontracting must not be abused or lead to a deterioration in quality or safety standards. Therefore, the main contractor shall remain fully liable for all actions of the subcontractor, hence it is not necessary that the subcontractor has to fulfill the same requirements as the main contractor under the license. If access to security sensitive areas (e.g. airside or transit area) is needed, the airport must be informed about the sub- contracting, for security reasons. The possibility of subcontracting is especially important reflecting the restriction of a maximum period of seven years. Subcontracting minimizes the risk of operation of expensive equipment with useful time of usage sometime nearly double than seven years – like aircraft pushbacks or passenger busses or to provide special services that are restricted under the Directive but not part of “normal” standard services. (5) What would be the advantages and disadvantages of these solutions (or a combination of these) or any other tools that you might propose? Please specify the economic, environmental and social impacts of your suggestions. (Open-ended box) BDF sees no need for the regulation of quality standards at European level or national level as well. Quality forms part of the services agreed in the contract between airlines and their ground handlers and should be defined by the airline itself. Should an agreement be necessary at a specific airport, this should be done in collaboration with the airport users. Further, IATA and the ground handling industry have agreed, through the development of the AHM and e.g. the audit standards for the IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO) program, that proper qualification and training - in all relevant areas including baggage handling - for ground handling staff is essential and should be based on common, agreed protocols. All major ground handling companies (as well as many smaller players) are on board with the program and are progressively submitting their numerous stations for the ISAGO audit. (6) What would be the advantages and disadvantages of introducing specific measures regarding transfer of staff in the groundhandling Directive for the cases which could fall beyond Directive 2001/23? Please specify economic, social and environmental impacts. (Open-ended box) In general, BDF believes that this issue shouldn´t be regulated neither by the EC nor by the Member States through national legislation, as, we fail to see any particular and evident reasons for the need of additional legislation and last but not least why ground handling should be subject to such measures when other sectors are not. The ECJ rulings on this issue shall not be overturned, but the EC should rather have a look at measures like in Spain, where effective and fair competition is - 3 - blocked through the backdoor by implementing far reaching provisions on the transfer of staff and their working conditions, incl. wages, benefits etc. granted by the former employer. (7) What other measures would you suggest to improve working conditions in the groundhandling sector? Please specify the advantages and disadvantages of your suggestions, as well as their economic, social and environmental impacts. (Open-ended box) The total liberalization of the groundhandling market will improve working conditions. The restriction of maximum number of independent supplier of groundhandling services and the maximum licence period of seven years creates an unnecessary risk of unemployment. The employer minimizes his risks resulting from loosing the license and may only use temporary contracts. This leads together to a higher fluctuation rate which influences the level of quality and cost efficiency as well. (8) What would be the advantages and disadvantages of obliging airport users to be present or to be legally represented by a groundhandler? Please specify