New European Aviation Strategy

There exist no internationally established regulatory framework dealing with competition in the field of air transportation. While the EU has for long been sanctioning infringements of state aid rules by EU air carriers, the increasing commercial influence of non-EU ones causes serious concerns as those are typically subject to entirely different legal regimes, including widely divergent rules on state aid. To defend common interests and values of its Member States, the EU needs an ambitious aviation strategy, a well-coordinated and a more assertive political and regulatory approach. In quest of that, following an overview of the European air transport liberalization process and its unique characteristics, the attention shifts to the external dimension of the process and the effects that the intra-EU liberalisation had on the overall competitiveness of the industry. Analysing the imminent perspectives of the liberalized industry, a list of reformative policy recommendations is presented. Trusting that the EU has a capacity to lead the world in terms of international air services "best practice", the proposed new aero-political strategy sets a foundation for an ultimate formation of a truly global regulatory regime for airline competition, consequently saving the EU from becoming the victim of its own success. This prototypical jurisdiction is presented as the final epilogue: a sustainable solution at a lower level grants a step forward towards a legal regime that establishes legal coherence and regulatory clarification for air carriers competing globally. Therefore, a model of a plurilateral arrangement between like-minded states interested in further air transport liberalization, followed by appropriate measures that ensure fair competition in the common market, through a set of specific rules extending over three stages and a creation of supranational dispute management mechanisms, empowered to enforce the internationally established rules, is considered.