EU Strengthens Aviation Relations With Australia

by Mary Swire, for LawAndTax-News.com

30 April 2008

It was announced on Tuesday that the European Union and Australia have signed an aviation agreement which allows European airlines to fly between any EU Member State and Australia.

“I welcome this important step in the EU's air transport relations with Australia,” stated Jacques Barrot, Vice-President in charge of transport, adding that:

"This will pave the way for a comprehensive aviation agreement involving cooperation in key aviation areas such as competition, safety and the environment."

The horizontal agreement signed this week removes nationality restrictions in the bilateral air services agreements between EU Member States and Australia, and therefore allows any EU airline to operate flights between any EU Member State where it is established and Australia.

This agreement acknowledges the existence of the European single market for air transport in the relations between the EU and Australia.

According to the EC: "It demonstrates that there is an external dimension of the single market for air transport."

The agreement recognises that airlines in the EU are not any longer national airlines, but Community airlines.

The “horizontal” aviation agreement signed on Tuesday does not replace the bilateral agreements in place between the EU Member States and Australia, but brings them in line with EU law, by removing the nationality restrictions contained in bilateral air services agreements.

Horizontal agreements have been negotiated with over 30 countries worldwide.

More than 650 air services agreements have already been modified by the joint efforts of the European Commission and Member States, to replace nationality rules with the principle of EU airline designation.

With more than 4 million annual passengers travelling between the EU and Australia, air transport relations with Australia are of major economic importance for the EU, the EC explained.

The "horizontal" agreement is considered an important first step in aviation relations between the EU and Australia.

The European Commission in September 2005 proposed the opening of broader aviation negotiations with Australia. This proposal is currently under discussion in the Council.

Such broader negotiations would aim at an creating an innovative aviation agreement, based on two key aims: opening the markets in order to increase market opportunities for the EU and Australian industries, and ensuring regulatory convergence and co-operation in fields such as aviation security, environmental protection, aviation safety, and competition rules.

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