European Regions Airline Association

This issue of Regional International focuses on the Air Traffic Management (ATM) in Europe. It is a key strategic subject that ERA has been working on for many years and it certainly deserves a renewed focus, if only, to highlight the slow evolution of such a part of the industry so critical for the future success of Europe's airlines.

The Emissions Trading Scheme is yet a further example of inappropriate, laborious and unfair legislation that is not fit for purpose.

Identifying someone else's mistakes rarely engenders their friendship. Nevertheless, sometimes it needs to be done. Consider, for example, a pilot who makes a genuine mistake resulting in a serious incident or accident. He/she knows that it is likely that he/she will face the possibility of a drawn-out criminal prosecution. If it is not a mistake and wilful neglect is involved, the chance of criminal prosecution becomes almost a certainty. If Europe's regulators and politicians consider the treatment of pilots in these circumstances to be 'fair', then contrast it with their own lack of accountability of when they 'get it wrong'.

Two decades ago the intra-European sector of air transport was eagerly awaiting the implementation of legislation granting new operating freedoms and removing restrictions based on years of State protectionism. A new era of exciting unprecedented market opportunities was to be created and airlines would be able to compete in a liberalised environment based on their individual business models and competence. For a few years it worked – more or less.