Association of European Airlines hails political acknowledgement of the airline crisis

Association of European Airlines (AEA), representing Europe's major network carriers, welcomed (21-Dec-2009) the endorsement by the EU European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) of a relief programme for European aviation, which is "enduring the most difficult business conditions in the industry's history", according to AEA. [more]

AEA: "It is encouraging that here at last we have an EU institutional body which has recognised both the depth of the crisis and the breadth of its impacts. While politicians occupy themselves looking for 'green shoots of recovery', we in the airline sector know that we are in for at least another year of hardship...The average ticket price, per kilometre of travel, is about 15% lower than last year - this is not a weakening, it's a collapse...Our markets have been fundamentally damaged during the last year, and". in some respects they will not recover. EESC has correctly identified the timely need for a root-and-branch review of Europe's air transport - its operational infrastructure in the form of airports and airspace and its regulatory framework," Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus, Secretary General. Company Statement, 21-Dec-2009.