Cheap airlines ‘bring Europe together’

Date: 05/02/04

ALTHOUGH several low-cost carriers have said the Ryanair ruling is unlikely to affect their bottom lines, the head of a new association representing the sector claimed the decision could send it into a tailspin.

"At first we thought this was a purely bilateral affair," said Wolfgang Kurth, CEO of German budget airline Hapag Lloyd Express and president of the newly formed European Low Fares Airline Association (ELFAA). "But now we are concerned that the Commission will use the Charleroi case as a precedent to examine many more deals at many more airports."

Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio said the EU executive, which is at present investigating several other deals struck between Ryanair and regional airports, will look into the complaints on a "case-by-case basis".

A framework for doing so will be set by a new raft of guidelines, possibly to be published along with the Commission's first-ever communication on the sector, which is due at the end of March.

Kurth said budget airlines are starting to ask themselves "a lot of questions", and are not exactly reassured after what they have read between the lines of the Ryanair ruling.

"But we are partly to blame for this," he added, because budget carriers have not made any joint efforts to date to lobby at EU level.

Enter ELFAA, launched last month in Brussels. So far, it represents ten low-cost carriers, including Ryanair.

Kurth claimed the message of what sets the budget airlines' business model apart "has not been adequately conveyed" to policymakers, leading their role in "bringing Europe together" to be overlooked.

"A few years ago, I would have never expected to see so many Spanish tourists visiting Hanover," he said.

While many Germans fly from Hapag-Lloyd Express' home base south of Hamburg to destinations in Spain and Italy, there has been a marked influx of Spanish tourists who take in weekend trips to the cooler north to visit museums and trade fairs, he said.

Wolfgang Kurth, President of the newly formed European Low Fares Airline Association (ELFAA) is worried that the European Commission's decision to claw back state aid from budget airline Ryanair will be a precedent to examining other deals at other airports.

http://www.elfaa.com/ http://www.elfaa.com/

http://www.elfaa.com/pdf/ELFAA_pressstatement_Charleroi_3%20Feb%20Draft%202.pdf http://www.elfaa.com/pdf/ELFAA_pressstatement_Charleroi_3%20Feb%20Draft%202.pdf

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