Local airports matter more than ever

In a joint op-ed, Olivier Jankovec (ACI EUROPE), Fanny Charles (SEALAR), Răzvan Horga (Oradea Airport) and Lotta Sandsgaard (Aarhus Airport) show how regional airports are essential to Europe’s cohesion, competitiveness, and green transition – and therefore, must be protected in EU financial policy.

Writing in Euractiv on the matter, the authors insist that if the EU is serious about leaving no citizen behind, it must fully recognise the strategic value of regional airports.

For many communities in remote or peripheral regions, regional airports provide the only reliable and affordable links to the rest of Europe and beyond. They act as economic lifelines, supporting regional development, connectivity, social inclusion and access to jobs, education, and healthcare. An EU founded on equality cannot allow geography to determine opportunity.

This constitutes a clear case for allowing operating State aid for airports, with the authors stressing that this is not about distortion of competition but about maintaining territorial cohesion and enabling all regions to participate in Europe’s economic and environmental transformation. They call on the EU to extend operating aid rules beyond 2027 with smart thresholds, strengthen and simplify green investment frameworks, and properly acknowledge small airports as critical infrastructure.

Without regional airports, Europe risks undermining both its unity and its transition to a more sustainable, resilient aviation system.

Read the full op-ed here.