The Commission has decided to open a formal investigation into the rules imposed by Italy on 2 May 2006 on 16 air routes between three Sardinian airports and important airports on the Italian mainland. The Commission has…
The Commission has decided to open a formal investigation into the rules imposed by Italy on 2 May 2006 on 16 air routes between three Sardinian airports and important airports on the Italian mainland. The Commission has serious doubts as to the conformity of the Italian public service obligations with the aviation market rules and considers that they may close the market to Sardinia. Italy has to react within two months upon receiving the Commission’s notice.
“This possible abuse threatens the principle of public services that I strongly support. The European Commission must ensure that public services are not used to close a profitable market from competition”, said Jacques Barrot, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of transport. “This is what the European Commission must check in this case”.
The completion of the internal aviation market in the 1990s gave all European airlines unconditional access to intra-EU and domestic routes. The opening up of the market was accompanied by safeguard measures such as the definition of public service obligations, which allow governments to maintain services considered essential for the economic development of a region in which the airport is located. Without such obligations such services might be discontinued because they are not in the air carriers’ commercial interest.
The mechanism foreseen by the European legislation consists of two phases. First, for a given route, the Member State publishes the public service obligation which will be imposed on the carrier in terms of capacity, frequency of flights and fares. Next, if no carrier applies to operate the route in accordance with those terms, the Member State may restrict access to that route to only one carrier and decide to grant it financial compensation for operating the route in accordance with the obligation.
The Commission’s preliminary examination of the obligations imposed by Italy reveals elements which raise serious doubts as to their conformity with European legislation. The Commission has a duty to protect the internal market and individual operators wishing to operate flights need to be properly shielded against undue restrictions. A number of complaints have been received on this issue from operators and first indications are that they are suffering real economic damage as a result of these impositions for linking Sardinia with mainland Italy.
The Commission has decided to examine the case in more detail. In particular, it will:
- Assess the evidence that the routes covered are vital to the economic development of the regions of Sardinia and check that the obligations imposed do not close unduly the whole market
- Examine the conformity with existing Community legislation of the requirement imposed to the candidate carriers to operate two sets of routes (each set comprising of two routes)
- Check the legality of the share of routes between 3 operators, namely AIR ONE, ALITALIA and MERIDIANA
Moreover, it will also assess the proportionality of the requirement that reduced fares must be applied to passengers born in Sardinia even if they are not residents of the island.
Whatever the final decision of the European Commission, it will be directly applicable to Italy.
The following routes are concerned:
- Alghero–Rome and Rome–Alghero
- Alghero–Milan and Milan–Alghero
- Cagliari–Rome and Rome–Cagliari
- Cagliari–Milan and Milan–Cagliari
- Olbia–Rome and Rome–Olbia
- Olbia–Milan and Milan–Olbia
- Alghero–Bologna and Bologna–Alghero
- Alghero–Turin and Turin–Alghero
- Cagliari–Bologna and Bologna–Cagliari
- Cagliari–Turin and Turin–Cagliari
- Cagliari–Verona and Verona–Cagliari
- Cagliari–Naples and Naples–Cagliari
- Cagliari–Palermo and Palermo–Cagliari
- Olbia–Verona and Verona–Olbia
- Cagliari-Florence and Florence-Cagliari
- Olbia–Bologna and Bologna–Olbia.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
