Brussels is restricting regional airports with new rules!
The European Commission is preparing a more restrictive legal framework for state aid in aviation. This has provoked a sharp reaction from the ACI EUROPE association, which warns of serious consequences for connectivity and local economies.
European regional airports are key points for the dispersal of tourist traffic and the economic development of more isolated regions. However, they have found themselves facing a serious challenge. The European Commission is planning to introduce significantly stricter rules for granting state aid. This has caused alarm in aviation industry. ACI EUROPE, an organisation representing over 600 airports on the continent, has issued a formal warning to Brussels during a public consultation. According to their assessment, the new regulatory direction could create deep economic divisions within the Union. It could also directly threaten destinations that depend on seasonal airlines.
Financial pressure on smaller airport operations
The main sticking point in the Commission's new proposal is the planned limitation of operational support to a period of only five years. At the same time, more stringent conditions are being introduced for airports that handle between 500,000 and one million passengers annually. Olivier Jankovec, Director General of the ACI EUROPE association, emphasises that such an approach completely ignores the market reality of smaller airports.
These entities do not benefit from economies of scale and constantly struggle with extreme seasonality, fluctuations in demand, and high inflation. In addition, low-cost airlines control most of the traffic in these regions. They are extremely flexible and can easily move their capacity to where costs are lower. Without the possibility of stable state support to cover basic operating expenses, many smaller airports They face business unsustainability. In the worst-case scenario, they even face closure.
Investment roadblock in the midst of the green transition
The new package of rules also brings a radical cut for medium-sized airports. Brussels, namely, proposes a complete cessation of investment support for all airports that exceed the figure of three million passengers per year. The industry is appealing to raise this threshold to five million passengers. This is because medium-sized airports are currently facing the largest investment cycle in history.
Infrastructure managers must finance expensive decarbonisation projects, climate change adaptation, strengthening cyber security, and system digitalisation. They are doing all this to comply with increasingly stringent European directives. These are long-term capital investments with a very low and slow return on investment. Consequently, it is almost impossible to finance them entirely from private sources or commercial loans.
The end of subsidies for new lines threatens to prolong the season.
The third segment that directly affects Tour operator Airlines are planning to abolish so-called start-up aids. These subsidies have served as a key tool for years. Regional tourist boards and airports used them to attract carriers to new, unproven routes. In doing so, they took on part of the initial financial risk.
By abolishing this mechanism, regions will lose the ability to diversify their markets and increase connectivity. The consequence will be further concentration of air traffic in a few of the largest, already overloaded European hubs. This directly undermines the efforts of the tourism industry, which has invested for years in extending the season into the pre- and post-season through stable airline routes.
If the European Commission does not revise its draft and align it with the actual market situation, European regions could pay a high price through job losses and reduced economic activity. The aviation sector and air connectivity currently support around 14 million jobs. They also generate five percent of Europe's GDP, which clearly shows the stakes in this regulatory battle.
