AOA VISIT TO BRUSSELS, 9-10 NOVEMBER 2015

Participants

AOA member airports participating were Bristol (James Gore, Public Affairs Director), Gatwick (Pandora Lefroy, Public Affairs Manager), Heathrow (Francis Morgan, Director of Policy) and Manchester Airports Group (Sam Atherton, Public Affairs Manager).

Also present were Wilson James (Dee Thomas, Head of Aviation) and Darren Caplan, Tim Alderslade and Peter O’Broin from the AOA (with public affairs consultant, Michael Burrell).

Round table dinner on 9 November

The dinner was attended by several MEPs, stakeholders from the European Commission and UKREP, as well as other Brussels-based stakeholders.

Darren Caplan said that the industry was expecting a record year for passenger numbers. He spoke of the need to deal with issues of capacity, air space and sustainability.

Jacqui Foster MEP, UK Conservative spokesperson on the ’s Transport Committee, was celebrating a cross-party vote in the Parliament in favour of her report on the safe use of remotely piloted aircraft systems (drones) and noted that the UK is an important player in drone development. She said that Europe should maintain world-class standards for drone manufacturing and any new policy framework should enable growth so that Europe could continue to compete globally. Ms Foster also referred to pressures for protectionist action against the Gulf carriers and said that the right approach was that being adopted by British airlines, who were not complaining, but competing.

Deirdre Clune, an Irish Fine Gael MEP, also on the Transport Committee, supported this approach to the success of the Gulf carriers, referencing the popularity of the Dublin-Dubai route. She said that congestion in the skies was hampering both airlines and airports and regretted that the Single European Sky proposals were being blocked by the UK-Spain dispute over Gibraltar.

Jill Seymour MEP, UKIP spokesperson on the Transport Committee, said she supported the UK’s position on Gibraltar, but was critical of Jacqui Foster’s report on drones, which she said was an attempt to push more powers to the EU. She said that she was uncomfortable with the EU having any involvement in aviation issues in the UK.

Timothy Kirkhope MEP, UK Conservative spokesperson on the Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee, referred to his report on the use of Passenger Name record data for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorist offences. He said that following the recent crash in the Sinai desert, people were going to have to accept that travelling by air would become a more burdensome affair.

Simon Brain, airports policy adviser in the European Commission’s DG MOVE, previewed the Commission’s new strategic approach to aviation, which is due to be adopted by the Commission on

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2 December. He said that it provided an opportunity to bring together different threads and to develop a coherent approach.

Susan Hamilton, First Secretary-Transport at the UK’s Permanent Representation to the EU, welcomed indications that the Commission is moving to a more risk-based approach to aviation safety in line with the UK system. She said that she expects useful discussions on the aviation review at a summit organised by the Dutch Presidency early next year. Ms Hamilton reiterated that there would be no UK discussions with Spain on the Gibraltar sovereignty issue, but said that the UK Government continues to look at other ways of resolving the frustrating impasse, which is blocking progress on the Single European Sky and air passenger rights.

Ashley Fox, Conservative MEP for South West and Gibraltar, said the UK Government should be seeking to persuade the other 26 EU governments that it makes no sense for one EU airport to be excluded from the range of protections offered to EU citizens travelling to and from EU airports.

Other contributors to the round table debate were Paul Adamson (head of airports at Eurocontrol), Ian Catlow (who represents the Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority to the EU institutions), Donagh Cagney (ACI Europe), as well as Bristol, Gatwick and Manchester airports.

Meetings on 10 November

Andrew Lewer MEP

Andrew is Conservative MEP for the East Midlands and a member of the European Parliament’s Regional Development Committee. Rolls-Royce and East Midlands Airport are important employers in his constituency. Mr Lewer encouraged UK airports to improve links with their local enterprise partnerships (LEPs), suggesting presentations to LEP boards on surface access issues and the importance of investment in transport infrastructure for regional growth.

Emmanuelle Maire

Emmanuelle is head of the airports unit at the European Commission’s DG MOVE. She was accompanied at the meeting by Simon Brain. She said that the aviation strategy document to be approved by the Commission on 2 December would include a policy document, proposals for revision of the European Air Safety Agency (EASA) regulation (for example, to include drones) and a request by the Commission for mandates to negotiate air surface agreements with third countries.

Ms Maire acknowledged that the Commission had faced pressure from some airline CEOs for tougher regulation of airport charges. However, she said that there would be no immediate changes to the Airport Charges Directive. The focus would instead be on working with national regulators on market power assessments and on consultation mechanisms and transparency. The proposition was that airports and airlines should act on a commercial basis, except for airports, like Heathrow, which do have market power. She said that DG MOVE is considering changes to its website to accommodate aviation strategy progress updates. Ms Maire also told us that she and Simon Brain will shortly be moving to new jobs elsewhere in the Commission. The acting head of the airports unit will be Christophe Dussart, who is currently head of sector for the aviation internal market.

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Jill Seymour MEP

Jill is UKIP MEP for the West Midlands and the party’s spokesperson on the European Parliament’s Transport Committee. This was a wide-ranging discussion, including the Airports Commission, Air Passenger Duty (APD), surface access and the Single European Sky. On airport capacity in London and the South East Jill said that she had been impressed by the arguments for an extra runway put to her by Heathrow, but felt uncomfortable about its impact on the village of Harmondsworth. She had left a decision to UKIP’s policy team and they had decided against Heathrow, preferring Gatwick. On APD, Jill said that so far UKIP had not adopted a policy, though her ambition would be to see it abolished. She asked the AOA to provide arguments that she could put to the party’s national executive committee. On surface access, she said that she supports improvements to the trans- Pennine rail link. She asked the AOA to provide her with material on the surface access concerns of its member airports. On the Single European Sky, she said that, while her starting point was to be critical of the Commission’s proposals, she was prepared to listen to the arguments.

Timothy Kirkhope MEP

Timothy is Conservative MEP for and Conservative spokesperson on the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee. He requested each of the airports present to set out their key current concerns and said that he was interested in looking at whether there was any way to ensure that existing airport runways in the UK are not closed. Overall, as on previous visits, he projected himself as a strong supporter of the UK airport sector.

Theresa Griffin MEP

Theresa Griffin is Labour MEP for North West England and Labour’s spokesperson on the European Parliament’s Industry Committee. She said that she would like to see the AOA’s submission to the European Commission’s aviation consultation but that, in general, the AOA should send briefing material to Lucy Anderson, who is Labour’s Transport Committee spokesperson and to Seb Dance, who is Labour’s Environment Committee spokesperson. Theresa said that she is a strong supporter of the rights of disabled passengers, which, she said, is a real issue at a number of UK airports.

Jacqueline (Jacqui) Foster MEP

Jacqui Foster is Conservative MEP for North West England and Conservative spokesperson on the European Parliament’s Transport Committee. On APD, she said that she is a supporter of the same rate being levied across the UK. On the European Commission’s aviation strategy, she said that airport charges should be a matter for commercial deals and also that she hoped that she would be appointed as the Parliament’s rapporteur on the revision of the EASA regulation. On surface access, she said that she wanted to see HS2 linked to the major airports on its route. She said that the AOA is “doing a very good job” lobbying for its members, but that she would like to see a greater focus on general aviation and more examples of airports and airlines lobbying together on issues of common interest, such as HS2 and biofuels.

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