ACI Europe endorse the ‘Draghi’ report that outlines the future of European aviation

ACI Europe has reacted to the Draghi report on ‘The future of European Competitiveness’, with an endorsement of its analysis of the transport sector and how to resolve aviation challenges. Olivier Jankovec, Director General of ACI EUROPE commented: “The message from the Draghi report is unequivocal: transport is crucial for the competitiveness of Europe as it enables the prosperity of multiple parts of the economy – while also promoting social and territorial cohesion. For Draghi this applies to all transport modes including aviation.”

Which proposals of the Draghi report does ACI support?

The need to improve and facilitate infrastructure planning at both EU and national level – with a particular focus not just on intermodality but also on integrating transport and energy planning. 

The Draghi reports further recommends that transport should be part of the National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) where Member States outline their strategies to address various aspects of the energy union, including decarbonisation. Recognising that the public sector cannot finance transport investment on its own, Draghi also calls for clear and stable regulation backed by “solid guarantees” to ensure that private sector capital flows into transport infrastructure.

This is especially relevant for airports, as they will need to adapt and develop their facilities to enable the deployment of both Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs) and Zero Emission Aircraft under development. This will require access to massive volumes of green energy, which needs to be factored in energy policies and planning. The need for such planning was also one of the main conclusions of the AZEA (Alliance for Zero Emission Aircraft) released this June.

The imperative to optimise airport capacity (“the ineffective use of airport capacity has led to major bottlenecks”) through the revision of the EU Airport Slot Allocation Regulation along with the need to defragment airspace management with the effective implementation of the Single European Sky.

With Europe being home to more than half of the World’s most congested airports and its airlines moving towards consolidation, there is no doubt updating the 30 year old airport slot rules is a must to protect the integrity of our Single Aviation Market

The necessity to further de-risk and finance decarbonisation solutions in hard-to-abate sectors, notably by supporting investment in aviation decarbonisation and expanding existing EU funding mechanisms. This reflects the massive costs involved in the green transition – which the Draghi report puts at €61 billion a year for aviation.

ACI EUROPE considers that this should stand at the heart of a proper SAFs Industrial policy facilitating not just the development of SAFs but also their deployment – and involving direct funding to bridge the price gap with conventional fuels.