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IACA’s annual Assembly took place last week in Palma de Mallorca, Spain – a destination where IACA carriers represent 40% of the market share and a perfect venue to highlight both the operational and regulatory challenges they are currently facing.  

The Assembly   provided the opportunity for IACA members to discuss key issues with high-level representatives from the European Commission, Eurocontrol and Spanish authorities.  The topics debated were:

· Airport Charges the shortcomings of the Airport Charges Directive and the need for proper economic regulation of airports in Europe.  Nowhere is this more apparent than in Spain and IACA once again called on AENA to improve their transparency and consultation process on airport charges.

· Single European Sky– IACA insisted on the need to progress with the Single European Sky project and called on the Member States to demonstrate their political commitment to improving the situation in adopting the SES2+ proposal by European Commission and supported by the European Parliament.

· Passenger Rights – Regulation 261/2004– IACA made an urgent plea to EU Member States to re-balance the draft Regulation so that both the needs of passengers and airlines are met and reiterated the importance of legal certainty in the new Regulation.

Focusing on Spain, IACA airlines confirmed their commitment to cooperate closely with AENA airports and air navigation departments   During the Assembly IACA members discussed specifically the need to shorten flights within the Spanish airspace as well as more flexible taxi time and procedures at Palma airport.

IACA’s President and COO of Jetairfly, Gunther Hofman, concluded:

“Once again IACA has highlighted the need for good aviation regulation which preserves, not undermines, the competitive interests of its members.  Time and time again we are faced with regulation and operational inefficiencies which harm our airlines and drive up their costs.” 

 “Airport charges, Passenger rights, Air Traffic Management, EU ETS are just some of the areas where appropriate regulation would make a huge difference”.

“At a more local level, better cooperation and coordination with the national and local authorities would benefit everyone.  IACA is committed to doing as much as we can to improve relations with AENA and the Spanish authorities”.