|
REVIEW OF EU GROUND HANDLING DIRECTIVE
By Dr. Christopher J. Smith, Managing
Director, SH&E Limited
Background
Ground handling activities with the European Union must comply with the
Directive adopted by the 15 Member States in 1996. SH&E had previously
assisted the European Commission in the development of this Directive,
and late last year won a major assignment to review the progress of its
implementation.
As the legislation was in the form of a Directive rather than a Regulation,
each Member State was required to pass its own legislation to bring the
requirements of the Directive into force within its own territories. The
use of a Directive also allowed each Member State to introduce additional
provisions into national law, provided that such provisions were not contrary
to the clauses of the Directive.
The Directive itself also placed an obligation on the Commission to report
back to the European Parliament on the progress and success of the Directive
and if necessary to suggest revisions to it. SH&E was contracted to
gather the factual data on which the Commission would base its report.
The Directive
The objective of the Directive is to encourage the competitive provision
of ground handling services at European airports, in order to reduce airline
costs, improve quality and provide airlines with a choice of handling
agent. In a number of Member States, ground handling services had historically
been provided on a monopoly basis, either by the major base airline (e.g.
Iberia, Olympic) or by the airport operator itself, a model common in
Austria, Germany and Italy.
To ease the difficulties that changing from these positions might create,
the Directive included transitionary arrangements which allowed for a
gradual liberalisation of the market. By the commencement of SH&E’s
assignment, the Directive applied to all airports which handled more than
2 million passengers or 50,000 tonnes of freight per annum for third party
handling; and 1 million passengers or 25,000 tonnes of freight per annum
for self handling. With the exception of four categories of ground handling,
the Directive required that any organisation could provide ground handling
services (subject to licensing for safety and financial fitness etc.),
including airlines wishing to self-handle. However, for baggage, ramp,
and freight and mail handling, and for fuelling, a Member State could
limit the number of handlers to no less than two organisations. A further
requirement was that at least one of the handlers had to be independent
of both the airport operator and any airline(s) responsible for carrying
more than 25% of the airport’s traffic.
The Assignment
Consultation with the many industry groups was a key feature of the assignment.
The very first ‘active’ day of the assignment included a meeting
with representatives of some 30 major stakeholders in Brussels, and the
last field day also included a meeting with the same group. In between,
there were visits to some 33 airports nominated by the Commission and
a ‘postal’ (largely conducted by e-mail and fax!) survey of
a further 50 or so airports. At each location, meetings were held not
just with the airport operator, but with ground handlers (independent,
self-handlers and where active the airport operator’s own handling
department/company), individual airlines as well as the AOC and the Airport
Users Committee. In some locations, we also met with representatives of
the Civil Aviation department/agency and with worker representatives.
There was also extensive consultation with all national civil aviation
administrations by post to obtain national legislation, identify any features
different from the Directive and discuss any national concerns/issues
that had arisen.
Our Final Report runs to some 110 pages, with a volume of similar length
containing appendices. It may be found on the Commission’s web site
and also on our own web site.
The report discusses briefly a background to the Directive, describes
the current position and changes in a number of elements since the introduction
of the Directive. It then examines the legislative position in each Member
State. The main body of the report is devoted to a discussion of a number
of issues that were identified during the study. These ranged from the
rate of implementation of the Directive, the selection processes followed,
definitions of self handling, through the rule of User Committees and
access fees and charges for centralised infrastructure, to employment
issues.
The scope of the assignment was the collection and presentation of factual
information. Analysis of this information in order to determine policy
initiatives was explicitly excluded from the work, and remains the domain
of the Commission.
The Final Report has received an extremely favourable reaction from the
many different stakeholders, despite each having their own interests and
positions to defend.
Contact:
Stephanie Toomey
Director of Marketing
SH&E, Inc.
Phone: +1 617-225-2800
E-Mail: stoomey@sh-e.com
© 1996-2003, SH&E, Inc., All rights reserved
|
