Letter -
Further to the requests submitted by our respective trade associations last week and following the adoption by the Commission of a comprehensive temporary State aid framework allowing for full flexibility in adopting supporting measures for those sectors and companies most impacted by the current COVID-19 pandemic, ACI EUROPE, ASA, ACA and the ETRC are hereby jointly complementing their above mentioned requests for urgent supporting measures for airport operators and service providers at airports.
You will find attached the details of the measures that should urgently be adopted by the EU/EEA and/or Member States and Switzerland to support airport operators, ground handlers, airline caterers and travel retailers.
In doing so we are calling on the European Commission to:
- Promote a European Aviation Relief Programme fully coordinated with EU/EEA States and Switzerland and industry stakeholders.
- Ensure that on top of their comprehensive supporting measures to airlines, Member States also implement comprehensive, inclusive and non-discriminatory support to the entire aviation eco-system.
- Ensure that EU and national supporting measures adopted do not benefit one actor at the expense of another actor in the aviation ecosystem.
The measures detailed in the annex below provide an extensive list of what can be done. They obviously need to be calibrated to the specific situation of airport operators and service providers at airports. But they all aim at the same objectives: addressing operational & business continuity risk before they materialize and allowing airport operators and service providers at airports to be ready when the recovery comes – so that they can, together with airlines, boost the rest of the economy.
