Flow of New EU Rules Irks Airlines
Airlines are warning that the European Union risks undermining one of its signature economic successes -- deregulation of air travel -- with a spate of regulations, and they are clamoring to stem the flow of new rules.
The latest move to set airlines howling involves new rules that mandate compensation for passengers bumped from flights. The rules replace an unwritten but longstanding practice around the world of offering free flights or upgrades when overbooking keeps passengers from flying. Full-service airlines also generally try to accommodate passengers when other problems occur, such as weather-related delays.
The new compensation rules are the latest in a series of EU policies and proposals that airlines, trade groups, and analysts say could financially damage the struggling sector. That in turn could threaten to clip the wings of an industry that has been one of Europe's growth drivers. The moves come despite a promise by the European Commission that took office in November to be more friendly to business than its predecessors.
The "basic principle is regulated liberalization," says former EU Transportation Commissioner Loyola de Palacio , who wrote the draft of the new compensation rules and who kick-started many other policies now being considered. The EU, she says, is seeking to combine "market economics" with guarantees for passengers.
EU deregulation of other key sectors, such as electricity and telecommunications, also has faced controversy in recent years. But hiccups in those areas mostly stemmed from uneven opening of markets across the EU, rather than controls imposed by the European Commission.
Some of the proposed rules address social goals. European finance ministers in February voiced support for a new tax on airfares to help fight AIDS in developing countries. Transport officials in Brussels are studying new environmental-protection measures, including taxing jet fuel and bringing the aviation industry into emissions-trading plans.
In addition, the EU is studying a raft of measures such as how to regulate informal trading by airlines of space at congested airports and how to open the U.S. domestic market to foreign carriers. It also continues to wage a battle with budget airlines over financial incentives they get from airports for routing traffic their way.
For airlines, the EU is "screwing everything up," says Giovanni Bisignani, head of the International Air Transport Association, a global trade group. He says the current system works well and chides the EU for spending time and energy on secondary issues of little importance to the industry.
Airlines have been sniping individually at recent EU regulations. But now, feelings against the new compensation rules are so strong that traditional airlines and their low-cost rivals -- normally at each others' throats -- are uniting against a common foe. Airlines also are concerned that EU regulations are drawn up with little or no industry consultation, executives from several countries say. In the U.S. and Britain, regulators meet with industry executives to hammer out new regulations.
Carriers estimate the new compensation rules, which went into effect Feb. 17 and also affect U.S. and other non-EU airlines flying to Europe, could cost the industry between �400 million and �1.5 billion, or about $525 million to $2 billion. Though the commission has said it plans to hold off on new regulations until their costs and effectiveness can be rigorously tested, it isn't clear when and if that policy will take effect. The EU didn't study the economic impact of the new rules before introducing them.
"It is an absurd piece of legislation," says Toby Nichol, spokesman for British budget carrier easyJet. Airlines have appealed the measure, and a court decision is expected later this year.
Stefaan de Rynck, a spokesman for the EU Transport Commission, says that "adequate consumer protection is part of the liberalization process."
Airlines are particularly worried by the vague wording of the new rules, which risks encouraging airlines to fly in bad weather or other poor conditions to avoid payouts to passengers for canceled flights.
At the heart of much of the sparring between airlines and regulators is a difference in priorities: The EU's position has been to fight for the industry's rights in the global economy. But industry leaders, buffeted by a tough operating climate, complain the EU overlooks smaller operational issues that are more important to airlines now.
For instance, Mr. Bisignani at the IATA says that in talks between the EU and the U.S., the EU has expended political capital pushing to win the right for EU carriers to fly inside the U.S. -- something Washington strongly opposes, and which Mr. Bisignani says is "not airlines' priority." The EU also is pressing the U.S. to allow greater European investment in the U.S. airline business, another low-priority issue for European carriers.
欧盟一系列新规定激怒欧洲航空业
欧洲航空业者警告说，欧盟的一系列监管规定有可能破坏它在放松欧洲航空业管制中取得的巨大成果；他们强烈要求阻止一系列新规定的实施。
导致航空公司大动肝火的举动包括一些最新规定，如要求航空公司对被取消座位的乘客作出赔偿，而目前全世界航空业都有一个长期默认的不成文惯例：当某个航班售出的票超过机上座位数后，航空公司将向持票但得不到座位的乘客提供免费改期航班，或将其机票升级。当天气原因导致航班延误或其他一些问题时，能提供全面服务的航空公司通常都会尽量为乘客安排好后续行程。
这些有关乘客补偿问题的新规定是欧盟一系列新政策中的最新一批。航空公司、商业团体和分析师们都认为，对正在勉强维持的欧洲航空业而言，这一规定可能会损害航空公司的财务状况，进而威胁到这个一直是欧洲经济增长推动因素之一的行业，束缚航空公司的手脚，让它们一蹶不振。而且，去年十一月开始履任的本届欧盟委员会曾承诺要改善与商界的关系，但他们却作出了这样不友好的决定。
前欧盟运输事务专员帕拉西奥(Loyola de Palacio)说，欧盟的基本原则是有管制地开放市场。帕拉西奥是新的补偿规定的起草人，还是欧盟正在考虑的其他许多政策的倡导者。她说，欧盟希望能将“市场经济”与对乘客提供保障结合起来。
欧盟对电力、通讯等其他关键领域放松管制的做法近年来也受到广泛争议。但这些问题主要出在欧盟各国间开放度不均衡，而不是欧盟委员会实施的控制措施本身。
欧盟提出的新规则有些是为了处理社会性问题。欧洲各国财政部长们2月份表示支持加征机票税，以帮助发展中国家对抗艾滋病。欧盟运输部门官员正在研究新的环境保护措施，其中包括对航空燃油征税，并让航空公司参加污染物排放贸易。
另外，欧盟还在研究其他一系列新措施，包括如何监管航空公司在繁忙机场争夺机位的不规范交易；如何让美国国内航空市场对外国航空公司开放。欧盟还在继续与廉价航空公司较量，焦点是廉价航空公司从它们选择起降的机场那里获得了财务上的优惠。
全球性行业组织国际航空运输协会(International Air Transport Association)秘书长毕塞涅昂尼(Giovanni Bisignani)说，欧盟把欧洲航空业弄得一团糟。他说，目前的航空体制运行良好，但欧盟却要花费时间和精力纠缠那些对航空业无关紧要的问题。
各航空公司对欧盟近年颁布的规定一直都是从各自的立场有感而发。但现在不论是传统航空公司还是新兴的廉价航空公司对新的补偿规定都极度反感，这两个一向恶脸相向的冤家现在大有同仇敌忾的架势。一些国家的人士说，航空公司还担心，欧盟在制定监管规定时几乎或完全没有征求行业人士的意见。而在美国和英国，监管机构在出台新规定之前都会咨询业内人士的看法。
航空公司估计，定于2月17日生效的补偿规定将导致航空业付出4亿-15亿欧元（合5.25亿-20亿美元）的代价。这项规定对往返欧洲目的地的美国和其他非欧盟国家的航空公司也同样适用。虽然欧盟委员会表示，它计划延后执行新规定，直到准确测算出实行新规定的成本和效果，但它是否会这么做以及何时开始还不清楚。欧盟在出台这些新规定之前并未研究它们对经济的影响。
英国廉价航空公司easyJet的发言人尼可(Toby Nichol)说，这是一项很荒唐的规定。航空界已就此向法院上诉，预计法院到今年晚些时候会作出决定。
欧盟运输委员会发言人林克(Stefaan de Rynck)说，使消费者受到足够的保护是市场自由化过程中必要的环节。
航空公司对新规定措辞之含糊感到特别不安，因为这有可能鼓励航空公司在坏天气和其他不利条件下坚持飞行，从而避免因取消航班而向乘客作出赔偿。
航空公司与欧盟监管机构许多争执的核心在于他们考虑问题的优先立场不同：欧盟的立场一直是为欧洲航空业在全球争取权利；而在严峻的经营环境下疲于挣扎的航空业领导者却抱怨说，欧盟忽视了眼下对他们更为重要的经营方面的具体问题。
比如，国际航空运输协会的毕塞涅昂尼说，在欧盟与美国的谈判中，欧盟为给欧洲航空公司争取经营美国国内航线的权利，一直在加大政治资本的投入，而美国政府对欧盟这一目标极力反对，毕塞涅昂尼也认为这个目标并非欧洲航空公司的当务之急。
欧盟还要求美国允许欧洲公司加大在美国航空业的投资，这对欧洲航空业者来说也不是什么急需解决的问题。
