European Commissioner for Transport Adina-Ioana Valean during a news conference in Brussels, Belgium December 9, 2020. — Reuters pic
The suspension of rules governing takeoff and landing rights at once-busy airports, introduced early in the Covid-19 pandemic, has become more divisive. Low-cost airlines are impatient to see a return to normal rules requiring incumbents to use 80 per cent of their slots or cede some to rivals. Transport Commissioner Adina Valean said the plan announced yesterday would “strike a balance” between fair competition and relief for airlines hit by the travel slump.
But aviation industry groups led by airlines body Iata said the EU plan “does not sufficiently address the extent of the continuing crisis in air transport,” and appealed to European governments and parliamentarians to intervene.