Minutes of the Third Meeting of the General Assembly of the National Coordinating Committee (CNC) 19/04/2012 MINUTES OF THE THIRD MEETING On the nineteenth of April of two thousand and twelve, at 14.30, the National Coordinating Committee (CNC) met in the Ícaro Auditorium of Lisbon Airport to discuss the following agenda: 1 – Approval of the minutes of the second meeting of the National Assembly; 2 – Voting percentages in the National Assembly; 3 – Updating of the performance/penalties process regarding monitoring in Portugal, developments related to the updating of Decree-Law no. 109/2008; 4 – Revision of the monitoring regulations – proposal from Lufthansa airline; 5 – Performance of the airlines, results of IATA 2011 summer monitoring; 6 – Work in progress, improvements in capacity expected for Lisbon and Faro airports; 7 – Any other business. A presence sheet (attached to these minutes) was sent round and signed by the voting members and observers. The Chair of the Meeting, Filipe Raposo, arrived as the count of members was being conducted, due to a delay with his flight from Ponta Delgada, as a result of the air traffic controllers’ strike. Mr. Raposo thanked all the members for being present and began the meeting of the General Assembly at 14.47. The Chair asked if there were any objections to the meeting being held in English, following a request from Netjets and because several foreign members were attending the meeting. No objections were raised. 1 - Approval of the minutes of the second meeting of the National Assembly The Chair asked if there were any objections regarding the Minutes of the Second Meeting of the General Assembly of the National Coordinating Committee. No objections were raised and the minutes were approved unanimously. 2 – Voting percentages in the National Assembly A slide was shown containing a list of the members of the National Coordinating Committee and the respective distribution of votes. The audience was asked if there were any questions regarding this issue (Appendix 1). The representative from Lufthansa, Antje Mueller, asked if the list was updated every year and the representative from the private flights operator Netjets, Steve Fry, asked if the list referred to flights coordinated as of 31 January. The head of the National Slots Coordination, Isabel Cysneiros, responded affirmatively in both cases. 1 Minutes of the Third Meeting of the General Assembly of the National Coordinating Committee (CNC) 19/04/2012 3 - Updating of the performance/penalties process regarding monitoring in Portugal, developments related to the updating of Decree-Law no. 109/2008 The Chair of the Executive Committee, Alexandre Coutinho, showed a slide with a summary of the actions taken by its working group, composed of the head of the National Slots Coordination, Isabel Cysneiros, and the representative and lawyer of ANA Aeroportos, Altino Pinto (Appendix 2), explaining that in March 2011, this working group had a meeting with INAC, in which INAC agreed and committed itself to amending the Portuguese legislation, DL no. 109/2008, in order to bring this more in line with European Regulation 95/93; the following month, the Executive Committee met to assess the current situation regarding the meeting with INAC (Appendix 3); later, unsuccessful requests for meetings with INAC were made on several occasions, with the aim of assessing the developments which INAC had agreed to in order to amend the Portuguese legislation – DL no. 109/2008; in December 2011, since the working group had received no reply to its various attempts to schedule a meeting, a letter was sent to the Chair of INAC with a new request. The head of the National Slots Coordination, Isabel Cysneiros, summarized the matters discussed in the previous meeting of the National Assembly regarding the penalties / court cases assigned to the operators, and stressed the commitment assumed by INAC to amend DL no. 109/2008 and the difficulty that the working group had experienced in contacting INAC, stating that the process was therefore pending. The representative from ANA, Altino Pinto, explained the working proposal drawn up and sent to INAC, which aims to harmonize the Portuguese legislation DL no. 109/2008 with the European Regulation 95/93. He highlighted the existing difference between the penalties regimes of these two documents, given that the European Regulation requires repeated and intentional breach, while the Portuguese legislations applies a penalty for every breach. The airlines consider that the National Slots Coordination has the necessary tools within its reach to assess whether the behaviour is repeated and intentional and that it should be this body that reports breaches to INAC. Mr. Pinto further explained the adjustment carried out regarding the regime for funding the service provided by the National Slots Coordination, so that this is effectively supported 50% (fifty per cent) by the managing bodies of the coordinated or facilitated airports and 50% (fifty per cent) by means of a charge levied on all the transporters or airlines which operate in these airports. 2 Minutes of the Third Meeting of the General Assembly of the National Coordinating Committee (CNC) 19/04/2012 The representative of British Airways, Michael Otto, asked if only the Portuguese airlines would bear the cost of funding the National Slot Coordination service. Altino Pinto clarified the situation, stressing that the charge related to all the airlines operating in the Portuguese coordinated and facilitated airports. Alexandre Coutinho asked INAC when it would be possible to schedule another meeting, since the last attempt had been on 22 March 2012. The representative from INAC, Fernanda Bandarra, thanked ANA for having moved forward with the project to change DL no. 109/2008 and informed the meeting that an internal document had been drawn up by INAC with the amendments regarding the slots charge and the amendment to the Portuguese legislation. However, this document had not yet been sent to the Government since it was considered that it would be better to wait for the conclusion of the revision of the European Regulation. Ms. Bandarra explained that one possible reason for INAC’s failure to reply to the requests for a meeting may have been the alteration in the Board of Directors which occurred at the end of 2011, and she informed the meeting that she would report back to her Board on the matters / difficulties discussed during the meeting. The representative from RENA, António Portugal, informed the meeting that he had already met with the new Board of INAC, at which time the issue of penalties had been addressed, not only regarding the future but also those cases already initiated. Mr. Portugal stated that INAC’s position regarding cases related to the past was to conclude these and that these could generate fines of up to one hundred thousand euros. He explained that RENA was unable to understand the two positions taken by INAC, which, on the one hand, is working towards amending DL no. 109/2008 and, on the other, continues to apply penalties to airlines regarding breaches which occurred four or five years ago and when in most of these cases the airlines already had no documentation left. Mr. Portugal stated that the National Slots Coordination had provided good support in these cases and that it should be the body to filter these. Isabel Cysneiros thanked Mr. Portugal for his compliment and stressed that she has a duty of transparency to supply the data requested. Altino Pinto stated that past breaches were a concern of the working group and that it had been agreed with the INAC that these cases would not continue towards penalties without the National Slots Coordination first being consulted. Isabel Cysneiros stated that INAC had consulted the National Slots Coordination to obtain information regarding past breaches, but that these contacts had decreased 3 Minutes of the Third Meeting of the General Assembly of the National Coordinating Committee (CNC) 19/04/2012 substantially. She also stated that at the meeting with INAC, on 16-03-2011, she was informed that any breaches which arose would be assessed in the light of the grounds agreed in the meeting and only those cases that were at an advanced stage would proceed. António Portugal expressed his concern regarding the position of the new Board of INAC in relation to past breaches. He raised the question as to whether these cases, should they be brought to court, might rely on the support of the National Slots Coordination or the executive committee. In response, Isabel Cysneiros stated that it is the duty of the coordinating body to supply information on the coordinated timeslots, always complying with the principle of transparency. António Portugal asked whether he might have in his possession the past minutes to present as grounds at trial. Alexandre Coutinho once again referred to the importance of having a meeting with INAC as soon as possible in order to clarify all these issues. Michael Otto stated he saw no need to delay amending DL no. 109/2008, since the new European Regulation would still take some time to be published and no amendments are foreseen regarding the relevant issues which are set out in the proposal for the amendment of DL no. 109/2008. 4 – Revision of the monitoring regulations – proposal from Lufthansa airline Antje Mueller asked for the opinion of the Portuguese partners regarding the amendments to the European Regulation, namely regarding the alteration of the definition of series of slots from five to ten flights and the calculation of the 80/20 rule. Lufthansa did not consider this to be a positive development. The representative from TAP, Alexandre Coutinho, was in total agreement with Lufthansa’s position and could not see the advantage in increasing the number of slots to constitute a series.