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British Airways’ chairman Lord Marshall today called for the European
Commission’s mandate for negotiating open skies between the EU and US to be a “trailblazing priority”.
Giving the lecture at the inauguration of the Brussels Royal Aeronautical
Society, on the tenth anniversary of European deregulation, he said much
had been achieved in the decade but more needed to be done to achieve truly open skies.
Governments have to change the 59 year old economic regulatory
framework with which international air transport is still saddled, he said.
Unlike other business sectors, like telecommunications, banking and the car
industry, air transport was just playing at globalisation due to the straitjacket
of national sovereignty and archaic ownership rules, he added.
“We are the only business sector where capacity, prices and participants are
controlled by the state. Because of it, our system of international alliance
based on co-operative agreement remains substantially impotent and fragile.
For all their evident worth, the current systems of alliance partnerships are,
in reality, poor excuses for genuine global business development.”
“Our global carriers are crying out for consolidation - for cross border
merger, acquisition and joint equity venture, in the same way as the
intra-Europe airlines. There are simply too many global hubs and too much
global capacity in Europe,” he added.
The present crisis in the Middle East could trigger consolidation in Europe
where there is already “airline blood on the walls” and in the end there could
be only three global airlines in Europe, he predicted.
“Let me assure you that we want to see the development of a truly European
air transport industry, with the commission taking on overall responsibility
for air service negotiations with other countries; and for competitive issues
for all aviation,” he concluded. |
