Extending EU State aid Guidelines crucial for Europe’s regions and EU cohesion
The EU State aid Guidelines, first established in 2014, are now up for a revision by the European Commission. Responding to the initial public consultation on their future, ACI EUROPE called on the Commission to continue granting operating aid to smaller regional airports, and to allow greater flexibility in allocating funds to projects aimed at decarbonisation, regardless of airport size.
These key asks were backed by a new study into the profitability of Europe’s regional airports conducted by Oxera.
The extensive research by Oxera shows that airports with fewer than 500,000 passengers per year are expected to remain consistently unprofitable, while those between 500,000 and 1 million passengers are unlikely to become consistently and significantly profitable before the end of the transitional period (2027).
The profitability struggle for smaller airports is linked to high fixed infrastructure costs and lack of economies of scale, an extremely important factor for the financial viability of airport business. At the same time, the smaller, regional airports play a vital role for the communities they serve, boosting connectivity and driving economic development and cohesion of the EU. They essentially put their communities on the European map, boosting jobs and GDP, as confirmed by the newly launched socio-economic impact study. With these important aspects in mind, ACI EUROPE called for an extension of the Guidelines beyond 2027.
In addition and given the scale of investment needed for the decarbonisation of Europe’s air transport (€61 billion a year for aviation, according to the recent report by Mario Draghi), ACI EUROPE recommended that the EU State aid rules should become an important financing tool for projects aimed at lowering emissions, regardless of airport size.
Find out more in the ACI EUROPE Press Release: EU State aid Guidelines must be extended to safeguard vital regional air connectivity and facilitate decarbonisation
Access the Oxera study: Economic analysis of the profitability of regional airports – September 2024
