EUROPEAN COMMISSION Brussels, 9.7.2019 SWD(2019) 295 final COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EVALUATION of the Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 on common rules for the operation of air services in the Community {SWD(2019) 296 final} EN EN Table of content GLOSSARY .................................................................................................................................................. II 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 1 2 BACKGROUND TO THE REGULATION ......................................................................................... 4 2.1 Description of the Air Services Regulation's main objectives, provisions and their evolution in time ................................................................................................................................................. 4 2.2 Baseline and points of comparison ................................................................................................ 8 3 IMPLEMENTATION / STATE OF PLAY .......................................................................................... 9 3.1 General market context and development ..................................................................................... 9 3.3 General policy developments ...................................................................................................... 17 4 EVALUATION METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................... 18 4.1 Short description of methodology ............................................................................................... 18 4.2 Limitations and robustness of findings - what are the limitations and consequences for the results ................................................................................................................................................ 20 5 ANALYSIS AND ANSWERS TO THE EVALUATION QUESTIONS ........................................... 21 5.1 Effectiveness: .............................................................................................................................. 21 5.2 Efficiency: ................................................................................................................................... 62 5.3 Relevance: ................................................................................................................................... 65 5.4 Coherence: ................................................................................................................................... 80 5.5 EU added-value ........................................................................................................................... 92 6 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................................. 94 ANNEX 1: PROCEDURAL INFORMATION .......................................................................................... 102 ANNEX 2 STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION REPORT ...................................................................... 108 ANNEX 3: METHODS AND ANALYTICAL MODELS ......................................................................... 126 ANNEX 4: OBJECTIVES, BASELINE AND STATE OF PLAY BY POLICY AREA ........................... 145 ANNEX 5: SUMMARY OF THE COSTS AND BENEFITS .................................................................... 169 ANNEX 6: EVALUATION QUESTIONS ................................................................................................. 171 ANNEX 7: AMENDMENTS TO THE AIR SERVICES REGULATION ................................................ 176 ANNEX 8: OVERVIEW OF BUSINESS MODELS IN CIVIL AVIATION ............................................ 179 ANNEX 9: ISSUES IDENTIFIED IN 2006 IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT 180 ANNEX 10: REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................... 187 ANNEX 11: TABLE POLICY TOPICS COVERED UNDER EVALUATION CRITERIA AND QUESTIONS ..................................................................................................................................... 198 i GLOSSARY Term or acronym Meaning or definition Air Services Agreements regulating air transport services between contracting Agreements (ASA) States. In aviation, most international air transport is governed by ASAs. They can impose detailed requirements (e.g. how many and which air carriers can provide services to which destinations at which frequency) or leave these questions up to the air carriers which wish to provide the service. Airport Charges This Directive, adopted in 2009, applies to all EU airports handling Directive1 more than five million passengers per year and to the largest airport in each Member State. It aims to provide for a transparent system of airport charges setting. Aviation packages The aviation packages have established and organised the EU internal aviation market since the beginning of the liberalisation and gradual market opening in 1987. There were three aviation packages: the first aviation package was adopted in 1987, the second aviation liberalisation package in 1990 and the third aviation liberalisation package in 1992. Aviation Strategy This comprehensive strategy published in 2015 proposed an 2015 ambitious EU external aviation policy, tackling limits to growth both in the air and on the ground, and maintaining high EU standards and innovation, investments and digital technologies.2 Codeshare Codeshare agreements, also known as codeshare, are commercial agreements agreements under which the airline operating a flight (the "operating airline") allows one or more other airlines (the "marketing airlines") to market and issue tickets for the flight as if the marketing airlines were operating the flight themselves. Flights covered by a codeshare agreement are displayed on the code-sharing airlines’ websites and on computerised reservation systems (CRS, see definition below) with more than one IATA airline designator or "code", namely that of the operating airline and that of the marketing airline(s). Cost-shared flights A cost shared flight is defined in EASA (EU Aviation Safety Agency) Air OPS Regulation3 as a flight with no more than six 1 Directive 2009/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on airport charges. 2 https://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/air/aviation-strategy_en#package_detail 3 Commission Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 of 5 October 2012 laying down technical requirements and administrative procedures related to air operations, in Article 6, paragraph 4 ii private individuals whose direct costs are shared between all the occupants of the aircraft, including the pilot. Connectivity The Aviation Strategy 2015 defined connectivity as the "number, frequency and quality of air transport services". In this way, connectivity may include direct, indirect and hub activities of airports as well as links to other transport modes. In a broader sense, connectivity may also include the possible linkage between two or more regions or the population living in the given territories. This evaluation understands the second, broader approach when it refers to connectivity. CRS (computerised Computerised Reservation Systems ("CRS")4 are also known as reservation Global Distribution Systems ("GDS"). Economically speaking, they systems) are technical intermediaries which connect airlines (and other travel service providers, such as rail operators) on one side of the market, with travel agents, both online and bricks-and-mortar, on the other side. Airlines give the CRS information on their fares, schedules and seat availability and get from the CRSs access to thousands of travel agents, plus the technical capability for the agents to make bookings. Travel agents get from the CRSs an interface which allows them to compare, reserve and book tickets from hundreds of airlines and other travel service providers worldwide. CRS Regulation5 Regulation 80/2009 on a Code of Conduct for computerised reservation systems ensures that air services by all participating airlines are displayed in a non-discriminatory way on the travel agencies' computer screens. It maintains safeguards that protect against potential competitive abuses by airlines owning or controlling a CRS (parent carriers). It also introduced enhanced rules for the protection of passenger/personal data. EASA European Union Aviation Safety Agency EEA The European Economic Area comprises the 28 Member States of the EU (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and UK) as well as Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway. 4 This is defined in article 2(4) of Regulation 80/2009 as a “…computerised system containing information about, inter alias, schedules, availability and fares, of more than one air carrier, with or without facilities to make reservations or issue tickets, to the extent that some or all of these services are made available to subscribers.” 5 Regulation (EC) No 80/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 January 2009 on a Code of Conduct for computerised reservation systems. iii EEA 18 Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France,