06 Paul Roosens

EKON. MISAO PRAKSA DBK. GOD XV. (2006) BR. 1. (51-78) Roosens, P.
: THE EU AIR
Dr. Paul Roosens

Professor
Faculty of Applied Economics
Department of International Economics, International Management, and Diplomacy
University of Antwerp, Belgium
Email: [email protected]
THE EU AIR TRANSPORT SECTOR IN THE POST 9/11

ERA
UDK / UDC: 656.7:4(1-67)

JEL klasifikacija / JEL classification: R49
Prethodno priopenje / Preliminary communication
Primljeno / Received: 2. lipnja 2006. / June 2, 2006
Prihvaeno za tisak / Accepted for publishing: 20. lipnja 2006. / June 20, 2006
Summary
The terrorist attacks of 11 September, 2001 in New York have been putting the air
transport sector in de world and the European Union in a deep crisis.
The deregulation of the EU air transport market was already fully accomplished
before the tragic events of 9/11. The policy was based on free fare setting and
market access, on a fair competitive environment and on common licensing rules
for air carriers. In order to eliminate any other unfair cross border competition
in the EU air transport sector, complementary actions were adopted by the EU in
the post 9/11 era.
Only a minority of these actions were a direct response to the new security
problems.
In the meantime the EU demonstrated the ambition to consolidate its air
transport policy with many third countries by expanding the European Common
Aviation Area.
The Croatian government participates in this project.
Most business players in the EU air transport market continued the same
strategies in the post 9/11 era as they used before, although sometimes in varying
degrees of frequency and intensity. High emphasis was put on more efficiency and
cost cutting. Typical strategies are membership of alliances, outsourcing non core
activities or the focus on niche markets, such as cargo, low-cost and regional
operations, leisure and executive business air transport.
In case of future EU membership, Croatia has to adopt the complete legislation
called acquis communautaire - in the field of EU air transport. Problems are not
51
EKON. MISAO PRAKSA DBK. GOD XV. (2006) BR. 1. (51-78) Roosens, P.: THE EU AIR
expected because Croatia is already aligned as a member of the European

Common Aviation Area. On the business side can be observed that Croatia
Airlines is part of the EU air transport network via membership of the Star
alliance and other code share agreements.
Croatian domestic and international air routes are very suitable for low-cost and
regional operations. A lot of competition in this field can be expected from
foreign carriers.
Key words: deregulation, acquis communautaire, alliances, outsourcing, niche
markets
INTRODUCTION
It is a challenging world for the air transport sector. The 9/11 terrorist
actions caused a shockwave in the landscape of commercial air transport. Many
airline companies decreased capacity, thousands of airline employees in the US
and Europe lost their jobs, and air carriers got into trouble. Bankruptcies
happened in Europe in he case of Sabena and Swissair and other companies are
still struggling, like Alitalia and Olympic. The situation is not really better in the
US, where nearly fifty percent of all available seat km (ASK) actually are
supplied under chapter 11 protection, which is the last stage before bankruptcy.
The good news is that at the same time the emerging economies of Asia are
enjoying a spectacular growth of the airline sector Even in Europe some airline
companies have been performing very well since 11 September, 2001. Some
have been clustering together in successful alliances like Star, Oneworld,
Skyteam. Other players focused successfully on niche markets such as the low
cost segment of the market, the regional and leisure carriers, cargo operators, and
executive transport. Most companies involved in the supply chain were
performing financially better than the airlines (Doganis, p. 6). A lot of airports
and airport groups are in good shape, and the same applies for the global catering
and handling companies.
Within this turmoil of highly contrasting events the EU is continuously pushing
ahead its liberalized air transport policy which tends to expand vertically and
horizontally. The vertical dimension refers to the numerous actions that are
adopted by the EU to deepen the liberalization process. This increases the
complexity of the acquis communautaire which makes adaptation by new
member states a real challenge. The horizontal dimension is the result of the
increasing geographical area that is covered by the EU air transport policy. This
European Common Aviation Area (ECAA) steadily opens up more markets but
makes competition harder.
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As such the liberal EU framework severely limits protectionism and state aid, and
requires a high level of managerial efficiency for air carriers to adapt and to
survive.
This article will provide a brief overview of the acquis communautaire of the EU
air transport policy. Most of the focus will be on the deregulation and the
achievements after 9/11, and on the business response of the major players in the
EU air transport market. Considering future EU-membership of Croatia, the
Croatian government and Civil Aviation Authority will eventually have to cope
with all necessary adjustments. Consequently Croatian Airlines, airports, and
other players in the air transport market will face a huge competitive challenge.
1. THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONAL FRAME-

WORK
The EU aviation policy does not constitute the highest level of the
regulatory environment. The primary authority at world level is the International
Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), created in December 1944 by the
Convention of Chicago and having its headquarters in Montreal. Worldwide
principles have been agreed, such as the sovereignty of airspace, the practice of
recommendations, the setting of international standards with respect to safety,
environment, etc. Croatia and the majority of countries in the world are
established members of ICAO and subscribe as well most other important
international conventions, like for instance the Convention of Montreal dealing
with the liability of air carriers towards passengers and their luggage.
Within Europe * the leading specialized organizations are the European Civil
Aviation Conference (ECAC), the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA), and
Eurocontrol.
All these worldwide and European organizations and conventions are limited to
intergovernmental cooperation only, which means that enforcement is not
possible.
While the above mentioned organizations and conventions strictly involve
governments and civil aviation authorities, a variety of private organizations and
pressure groups constitute an important complementary framework at the
business level of the air transport sector. The major air carriers worldwide are
grouped in the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and in the
Association of European Airlines (AEA Yearbook 2005, p.53) in Europe .The
interests of the regional carriers in geographical Europe are represented by the
European Regions Airline Association (ERA) and the Airports Council
International (ACI) consists of the membership of international and regional
airports.
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This listing is not exhaustive but illustrates the high level of institutional
complexity at the international and European scenery.
2. THE EU AIR TRANSPORT POLICY

The most challenging dimension is undoubtedly the EU air transport
policy.The policy as such is rather new, and did not really exist before 1985. In
the Treaty of Rome (1957) the transport policy in the European Community
(EC**) was limited to transport via road, rail and the inland waterways. Maritime
and air transport were initially not included. Consequently air transport policy in
the member states of the EEC was on a voluntary basis relying on the global and
European framework. Company interests were protected by their own national
governments and the agendas of the business and pressure groups.
The air transport sector in the world and in the EEC was consequently based on a
highly regulated market. It was dominated by bilateral agreements between
governments about capacity, routes and destinations. It was common practice to
restrict the number of airline companies allowed to operate in the domestic and
international air transport markets. Indeed, this privilege was in most cases
limited to the national flag carrier under the so called single designation principle.
Fair competition did not exist under such a bilateral system and was responsible
for a lot of inefficiencies and high fares for passengers. Parallel restrictive
strategies were implemented by IATA that behaved as a global cartel, fixing
prices and capacity between member air carriers.
2.1. EU Deregulation
This anticompetitive situation was reversed for the first time in the world
in 1978 by the American Airline Deregulation Act. The EC followed in 1985 by
allowing EC antitrust rules to be used in the airline sector. Three packages of
airline deregulation enacted by the Community were introduced by appropriate
Regulations in 1988, 1990 and 1993. Regulations can be considered as pure EU
laws and are automatically applicable in the member states without prior
incorporation in national law.
* Europe in this article refers to geographical Europe in contrast to the European Union (EU)
** EC (European Community) changed into EU (European Union) since 1992
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2.1.1. Free pricing

Free pricing in the air transport sector is one of the main achievements
of the deregulation process in the EU. This policy made it possible for an entire
new type of air carrier to emerge. Based on the Southwest experience in the US,
several low-cost (no-frills) airlines have been entering the EU aviation market
and are performing very well (Lawton, p. 35 36).
They are represented in Europe by the European Low Fares Airline Association
(ELFAA).
By applying efficient managerial techniques, these carriers are able to reduce the
average cost per seat/km by up to 59% compared to that of a traditional carrier
(Doganis, p.150).
As these low-cost carriers do not offer a business class, they are able to fit more
seats in the same aircraft, delivering an average cost reduction per seat/km of
16%.
By using less busy airports (like London Stansted instead of London Heathrow;
Frankfurt Hahn instead of Frankfurt Main, etc.) less time is lost between arrival
and re-departure which creates a higher degree of utilization of the aircraft and a
cost reduction of 3% per seat/km. Another 6% cost reduction is possible due to
the lower user fees at these airports. Cost reductions of 3% are possible by lower
labor costs and 2% can be saved by flying the same type of aircraft and
outsourcing maintenance.
Because only an absolute minimum of staff is provided at departure and arrival
airports and because of the outsourcing of handling services, cost reductions of up
to 10% are possible. Another 6% can be economized by the absence of free on
board catering, 8% by a direct booking system avoiding travel agents
commissions, 3% by simplifying ticketing procedures and 2% by lowering
administrative overhead costs.
2.1.2. Free market access

Deregulation packages gradually liberalized market access conditions.
Since April 1997 cabotage has been allowed in the EU.
Free market access in general has brought with it a hard time for many inefficient
flag carriers. A number of them were state-owned and habitually made up their
losses by availing of tax money. It became apparent very soon that some airline
companies could cope with the new deregulated reality, while other carriers could
not escape from their corporate culture of staying afloat by subsidies. It became a
fact of life in the EU that privatization in the airline sector became one of the vital
instruments to make the airlines strong enough to survive the jungle of
competition and instability after 11 September.
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There is however no legal obligation for privatization neither for Croatia

Airlines - , and there are cases of state owned carriers (like TAP in Portugal) that
perform financially very well.
Capital injections by governments in state owned airlines should comply with the
market investor principle to avoid unfair competition with private carriers (ICAO,
Government intervention in air transport in the European Union, p. 2).
Further, state subsidies in the EU to airline companies have become very
restricted and even impossible. However article 87 of the Treaty of Nice still
accepts strict exceptions for regional and sector aid .The Commission can allow
state aid in case of public air service obligations and to overcome financial
difficulties due to an unexpected crisis (ICAO, Government intervention in air
transport in the European Union, p. 2 -3). After 9/11 EU governments were
allowed to provide temporary subsidies to air carriers to overcome the sudden
increase of the war-risk insurance premiums.
Air carriers that are in a restructuring stage and that can deliver a good business
plan can be allowed to get state aid on a one time last time basis (ICAO,
European experience of air transport liberalization, p. 4). This type of aid is
conditional and air carriers can be forced by the Commission to refund the state
aid if conditions are not met. A recent case is that of Olympic Airways which will
have to pay back illegal state aid to the Greek government (Commission,
IP/06/531).
There is a high potential that some regional airports and air carriers in new
member states could make temporary use of these exceptions. In case of future
membership, the Croatian air transport sector could be eligible for similar
exceptions.
2.1.3. Fair antitrust environment

The EU antitrust policy frequently called competition policy aims to
maintain fair cross-border competition between companies in the EU. Pure
domestic distortion of competition still falls under the application of national
competition authorities. As air transport in the EU is frequently a cross-border
activity, EU competition policy is applicable in most cases.
Article 81 in the treaties (Art. 85 before the Treaty of Amsterdam) puts rules and
restrictions on agreements between companies: The following shall be
prohibited as incompatible with the common market: all agreements between
undertakings, decisions by associations of undertakings and concerted practices
which may affect trade between Member States and which have as their object of
effect the prevention, restriction or distortion of competition within the common
market,
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A lot of cooperative agreements between air carriers over the years have been the
subject of investigations of the EU Commission (Corduant and van de Wouwer,
p.98).
But even when some of these agreements cause negative cross border impacts on
competition, the Commission can authorize such agreements when the positive
impact for instance on the passengers compensates for the negative impact on
competition.
Many predetermined authorizations the so-called block exemptions have been
granted to the airline sector as part of the three deregulation packages. Examples
are agreements on schedule coordination, tariff consultations, slot allocation
agreements at airports, common computer reservation systems.
In some cases such as alliances, far reaching cooperative agreements, code-
sharing, etc.., the Commission can open a specific investigation resulting in a
positive or negative conclusion, and fines can be imposed in case of violations.
The attitude of the Commission in the majority of the cases is not very prohibitive
as most agreements such as alliances and vertical integration with regional
carriers are authorized.
In case of dominant positions, Article 82 (Art. 86 before the Treaty of
Amsterdam) applies: Any abuse by one ore more undertakings of a dominant
position within the common market or in a substantial part of it shall be
prohibited as incompatible with the common market in so far as it may affect
trade between Member States .
In a very recent case, British Airways got subject to a complaint from Virgin
Atlantic which resulted in a fine of 6.8 million EUR imposed by the EU
(European Court of Justice, Case C-95/04 P).
BA abused its dominant position in its relation with air travel agencies in the UK,
with the intention to push competitors such as Virgin Atlantic out of the
market.
Dominant positions that are the result of mergers, even when no abuses occur, are
regulated by the Council Regulation 4064/89 recently amended by Regulation
139/2004.
Mergers that exceed certain thresholds and with a Community dimension should
be notified to the Commission and get prior approval, as happened for instance in
2004 in the case of the KLM/Air France merger.
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2.1.4. Common licensing rules of air carriers

As the result of the third deregulation package, full freedom to start an
airline has become possible since 1992. Based on Regulation 240/92, all civil
aviation authorities of the EU countries should give equal treatment to companies
applying to get licensed as a Community air carrier. One of the necessary
requirements is Community ownership, and a solid business plan providing for
financially sound operations in the future.
An air carriers operating license can only be granted and remain valid if the
company is in possession of a valid Air Operators Certificate (AOC).
The civil aviation authorities will deliver an AOC when the operator demonstrates
the professional and technical ability and organization to run the safe operation of
aircraft.
Within the EU, the deregulation of the licensing of air carriers has stimulated the
emergence of low-cost carriers, regional airlines and other newcomers.
2.1.5. Comments
The deregulation constitutes the fundamental framework of the EU air
transport policy and it was fully established at the start of the 9/11 era. It
constitutes the basic acquis communautaire which by all actual and new member
states should be adopted.
The EU air transport policy moves steadily in the direction of a common policy,
leaving less national degrees of freedom to rely on the subsidiarity principle
(Assess, p. 17 18).
There is a strong political belief in the world and in the EU that deregulation is
the only way towards the development and the survival of the air transport
market.
Politicians however overlook some critical questions that are raised in theoretical
discussions about the long term market stability. This debate is typical for sectors
with high fixed costs and as such could be applicable to the air transport sector. A
deregulated air transport market with too many players could end up in a situation
where nobody is able to survive
Symptoms could be the low historical and actual profit margins of the air
transport sector, the many cases of bankruptcy protection in the US, commercial
failures and bankruptcies.
In the maturity stage, even the no frills carriers eventually can be expected to
become subject to the same problem.
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A brief overview of this theoretical issue can be found in Button (Air transport
networks, p. 169 189).
2.2. Complementary acquis communautaire
Unfair cross border competition in the EU air transport sector still could
be possible if member states were allowed to implement pure national actions in
complementary fields such as safety, security, air traffic control, congestion and
environment, passenger rights, insurance, and other.
This explains why the EU has been complementing the packages of deregulation
with numerous additional Regulations and Directives (www.europa.eu).
In contrast to Regulations, Directives constitute less intense legislation. They
impose a particular goal but allow some levels of freedom about the specific way
of implementation. They only can be enforced in a member state after prior
incorporation in national law.
Many of these complementary actions have been introduced after 2000,
especially those dealing with the new challenges of security of the 9/11 era.
The complementary acquis communautaire affects not only the governments of
the actual and new member states, but as well air carriers, airports and air traffic
management.
The EU continues its project of the European Common Aviation Area
(Commission, COM/2004/74 final, p. 5 6 and COM/2005/79 final, p. 8). The
full implementation of the ECAA is expected by 2010, and will integrate the EU
aviation markets with those of the states at the south and the east of the common
borderline. As Croatia participates in the ECAA it is as such already fully aligned
with EU air transport policy (Commission, IP/06/582). Future EU membership
will make Croatia an integrated part as well of the Open Skies Agreements which
the EU tries to sign with major other countries in the world. The only limitation is
that existing and
new bilateral air agreements of Croatia will have to be or become fully
compatible with EU Regulation 847/2004.
Furthermore Regulation 437/2003 and 1358/2003 make full cooperation of
member states mandatory in providing statistical air transport data about
passengers, cargo and mail.
Most other actions rely on particular Directives, dealing with issues such as air
safety in Directives 2003/42, 94/56 and 2004/36, the mutual acceptance of
licenses for cockpit and cabin crew in Directive 91/670, etc.
The impact of the national civil aviation authorities will diminish in the future as
the European Air Safety Agency (EASA) will take over a lot of responsibilities in
the field of aviation safety and airworthiness requirements.
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The acquis communautaire for airline companies consists of the three packages of
deregulation and several other Regulations about mandatory insurance, computer
reservation systems, denied-boarding compensation, technical requirements and
administrative procedures. Steadily new proposals are initiated by the
Commission, such as procedures for informing passengers about the carriers
identity, revised limits on maximum duty time for cockpit and cabin crew, etc.
Airports are affected by Directive 2002/30 about noise abatement, Directive
96/67 sets the principles for ground handling at airports, and new legislation is
expected to deal with excessive user fees that are charged on some EU airports
(Pilling, Campaign trail, p. 51 52).
Airports and air carriers both are subject to the slot Regulation 793/2004 and
rules are in the pipeline for travelers with reduced mobility.
Civil aviation security has become a high priority since 9/11 and this clears the
ground for the strict common rules on security control to be followed by EU
airports and governments.
It is the ambition of the EU to create a Single European Sky in order to increase
airspace capacity and to reduce congestion and delays. The Commission has
become very active in this field since 2004, by publishing a series of important
Regulations.
3. STRATEGIES IN THE AIR TRANSPORT SECTOR

The demand for air transport is indirect and depends primarily on global
economic activity (Doganis, 2001). Consequently international air transport is a
highly volatile business, expanding when the economy is booming and declining
in periods of economic recession (OACI, p. 81). Variables such as high fuel prices
and environmental constraints can cause a deeper and more intensive recession in
the air transport market.
Most analysts of ICAO, Airbus, Boeing, and other, expect for the middle term a
continuous world wide growth in the air transport sector. According to the IATA
forecasts up to 2009, international passenger traffic growth is expected to increase
by 5.6 % per year and even by 6.3 % for freight (IATA, Passenger and freight
forecast until 2009).
The model used by Eurocontrol forecasts in Europe for the period 2006 - 2009 an
average annual traffic growth of 3.7 %, ranging under extreme assumptions
between minimum 2.4 % and 5.3 % (Eurocontrol, p. 2).
The air transport business generates many positive feed back effects on the
economy.
The impact on European jobs was estimated to range in 2004 between 4.1 million
jobs to 7.5 million with all spin-off effects included, realizing an added value
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between $ 274 billion up to 1,041.7 billion (ATAG, p. 25). Regional economic

activities, such as tourism in Croatia, can get extra stimuli by more inbound
tourist passengers (ACI Europe, p. 41 45).
The area which is most vulnerable to business cycles is the middle segment of the
passenger air travel market. It involves the typical tourist-class passengers with
higher elasticity of price and income. This market segment can be served very
well by the typical low-cost carriers and this is why most of these operators see
their businesses booming in periods of recession. On the other hand, the high
price low number business travelers are of premium importance for most airline
companies. Special actions such as frequent flyer programs try to seduce the
business traveler (Shaw, p. 206 214).
Moreover, during economic recessions, a switch from business to tourist class can
be observed.
Of crucial importance for airline companies is to keep the yield/cost ratio larger
than unity. One of the necessary although not sufficient key variables is a high
load factor. When load factors are structurally declining, overcapacity becomes a
major problem (Morrell, p. 8 10).
In the volatile context of the air transport market, carriers inevitably have to
demonstrate sufficient flexibility to adapt their capacity to the cyclical evolution
of demand.
Success and survival of a carrier will depend primarily on the speed and the
intensity of these capacity adjustments.
Fast capacity adjustments are even more important to deal with unexpected
external shocks, such as 9/11, the outbreak of SARS, the war in Iraq.
Many carriers traditionally are reluctant to reduce capacity, primarily because this
will inevitably cause layoffs and create problems with the labor unions. Although
there was already an overcapacity problem before the tragic events of 9/11, only a
few airline companies at that time were willing to react appropriately (Airline
industry grounded again, p.61 62). Major downsizings, however, occurred
worldwide after 11 September 2001. In many cases, these were rather late
adjustments to the slowing economy and 11 September was just used as the more
socially acceptable justification. It was in some respects the excuse that came at
the right time.
As less capacity is needed, routes have to be cancelled, flight frequencies
reduced, and aircraft have to be taken out of service. After 9/11 over two
thousand big commercial jets were parked in the deserts of Arizona and
California, just waiting for better times to come, and this number was double that
of the period immediately before the terrorist attacks (Kingsley-Jones, p. 36
38).
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Airline companies using flexible leasing contracts can enjoy a competitive

advantage over carriers using fully-owned aircraft (Morrell, p. 197 - 212).
Another solution to cut capacity consists in using smaller aircraft (Shifrin, p. 12)
which can explain the increasing importance of the regional carriers in the US
and the EU.
Flexible-capacity management can be enhanced by implementing code-share
agreements with other airline companies. In this case, seats on the same flight can
be offered and sold under a double flight number. Frequent use of this system is
made by the major airline alliances.
3.1. Airline alliances

The strategies of many European air carriers are based on membership
of one of the major alliances. Depending on the airline company, objectives of
alliance membership could be market-defensive, market offensive and efficiency-
seeking (Kleymann, p. 35 45).
The most intensive type of cooperation is code-sharing and schedule co-
ordination, followed by frequent flyer programs and lounge sharing, co-operation
about broader marketing and technical matters.
The STAR alliance has been for a number of years the market leader, realizing on
average 26 % of worldwide airline revenues.
Croatia Airlines is a regional member of the Star Alliance since 15 December
2004 (www.croatiaairlines.hr), enjoying since then access to the worldwide Star
network.
Connections to this huge network are a real must for a small carrier as Croatia
Airlines which was in 2004 in position 220 in the world airline rankings based on
revenue passenger/km (The Airline Rankings, p. 79).
Table 1.
STAR alliance members
Carriers Revenue in $ million (2004)
Adria Airways 165

Air Canada 6,858
Air New Zealand 2,196
All Nippon Airways 12,043
Asiana 2,628
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Austrian Airlines 2,940

Blue1 178
bmi 1,520
Croatia Airlines 226
LOT-Polish Airlines 802
Lufthansa 21,101
SAS 7,921
Singapore Airlines 7,334
Spanair 1,084
TAP Air Porugal 1,618
Thai Airways 3,791
United Airlines 16,391
US Airways 7,117
Varig 2,600
Source: Field, p. 46
The second most important player is SKYTEAM, with a 19.6 % share in the
world market. Its members are Aeromexico, Air France-KLM, Alitalia,
Continental Airlines, CSA Czech Airlines, Delta Airlines, Korean Air, Northwest
Airlines, Air Europa, China Southern, Copa Airlines, Kenya Airways, Tarom.
ONEWORLD is the third major group, with 14.5 % share in world wide revenue.
Members are Air Lingus, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific,
Finnair, Iberia Airlines, Lan, Quantas Airways, Malev.
Croatia Airlines has been signing as well individual cooperation agreements with
some airline companies outside the Star alliance. In this way Croatia Airlines is
able to offer flights to the most important hubs in the EU, such as Amsterdam,
Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Munich, Paris, Rome, Vienna, Zurich (World Airline
Directory, p. 46).
An important advantage of the economic power of the airline alliances is the
pressure they can put on the hubs and the major airports they are using. Strong
bargaining power is necessary to get a good location at the airport for gates, in
check facilities, hangars for maintenance and cargo handling, etc. Last but not
least, the market power of airports tends to increase because they follow the
movement towards globalization by setting up alliances as well. So far the
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financial results are very good taking into account that profit margins are in the
double digit area.
Table 2.
Key data of the leading European airport alliances (2004)
Airport Group Revenue ($ million) Operating margin
BAA: London Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted, Southampton, Aberdeen-Dyce,
Edinburgh, Glasgow
3,902.6 31.8 %
AENA: Madrid, Barcelona; 3 airports in Colombia (Cartagena, Barranquilla,
Cali); 12 Mexican airports including Guadalajara
2,615.5 11.9 %
FRAPORT AG: Frankfurt Main, Lima Jorge Chavez International, Antalya
(Turkey), Portway Handling de Portugal, Hanover, Brisbane Airport, Frankfurt
Hahn
2,541.9 13.8 %
AEROPORTS DE PARIS: Paris Charles de Gaulle, Paris Orly, Le Bourget,
Beijing Capital International Airport, France Handling, Lige Airport (Belgium),
Phnom Penh (Vietnam)
2,264.9 33.1 %
SCHIPHOL GROUP: Amsterdam Schiphol, Rotterdam, Lelystad, JFK New
York, Stockholm Arlanda, Jakarta Soekarno Hatta (Indonesia), Aruba Queen
Beatrix International (Netherlands Antilles)
1,131.4 28.4 %
Source: Mountford, p. 59 62.
Other global airport groupings with participation of European partners are Abertis
(Spain), Aeroporti di Roma (Italy), Copenhagen Airports (Denmark), Dublin
Airport Authority (Iereland),
Ferrovial (Spain), Flughafen Wien (Austria), Hochtief AirPort (Germany), Infratil
(New Zealand), Macquarie Airports (Australia), Malaysia Airports Berhad ,
Manchester Airports Group (UK), Peel Airports (UK), SEA Aeroporti di Milana
(Italy), Unique (Switzerland), Vinci Airports (France).
The ways of cooperation within the global airport groupings vary between
management contracts, joint ventures and equity stakes. The financial results are
superior compared to the airline groups. The profitability gap airport versus
airline group for operating margin was on average 18.3 % for the period 2004
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2005 (Baker, Fighting talk, p. 51). This gap never dropped under 18 % for the
period 1999 2005, even not after 9/11
As deregulation in the EU causes more competition in the air transport market,
yields are under constant pressure, making it a huge challenge for carriers to keep
the yield/cost ratio above unity.
More efficiency and appropriate cost reductions are an absolute must in order to
survive.
Outsourcing is one of the frequently used strategies during the last years.
3.2. Outsourcing
Air carriers who focus on their core transportation business can
outsource non-essential activities to other specialized companies. Most vertical
outsourcing can be spotted in the fields of maintenance, catering and ground
handling, while horizontal outsourcing refers to routes that are subcontracted to
other carriers.
Global players in the catering sector and ground handling offer services
worldwide to hundredths of airline companies. The major players in ground
handling
realized in 2004 a total worldwide revenue of $ 4,898.8 million, which is 10.8%
higher than the year before (Conway, Common vision, p. 42). The four largest
players Swissport, Servisair/GlobeGround, Fraport Ground Services,
Worldwide Flight Services have a stake of nearly 70 % in this worldwide
revenue.
In the field of catering, the four global dominating companies are LSG Sky
Chefs, GateGourmet, Servair, and Alpha Flight Services.
Based on high volume and synergies these global services companies enjoy
economies of scale and scope and consequently their services can be supplied at
lower prices compared to airline companies who are performing these operations
independently.
Maintenance services are following similar tendencies. Major cost reductions can
be achieved by outsourcing maintenance to global or to lower cost facilities.
Ryanair is for instance looking for cheaper maintenance in either Latvia or
Poland, Lufthansa Technik established a subsidiary in Budapest, and more will
follow in the future (Turner, p. 28 31). Whether Croatia Airlines/Technical
Services will be able to join the competitive maintenance market in Europe is
questionable. At this time, the facilities and the services at Zagreb airport lack the
critical size to get economies of scale. Hangar size is too limited compared to the
competition, and only checks C are possible while the full spectrum of checks B,
C, and D is available elsewhere in Europe (Maintenance Directory, p. 34).
65
Table 3.
Leading civil maintenance operators in Europe (2003)
Company Country Revenue $ million
Lufthansa Technik Germany 4,922
Air France industries France 2,162
SR Technics Holdings Switzerland 1,142
KLM Eng & Maint Netherlands 916
BA Engineering UK 847
Alitalia Eng & Maint Italy 750
SAS Technical Sweden 680
Iberia Eng & Maint Spain 500
Finnair Technical Services Finland 238
TAT Industries France 212
Sabena Technics Belgium 165
Source: Pilling, M., Service challenge, p. 52
Horizontal outsourcing is possible in the field of feeder services. Many airline
companies
use the services of regional carriers to transport passengers to their major hubs.
Although this type of independent feeder is very popular in the US, the EU is
lagging behind because most regional feeders are financially controlled by the
airline company.
3.3. Niche markets

The analysis so far has been limited to the strategies of the main carriers,
but smaller parts of the market could offer interesting opportunities to niche
players, such as cargo, the low cost operators, the regionals, the leisure carriers,
and executive air transport.
Is air cargo an independent niche market? A double approach can be observed in
the air cargo market. Many flag carriers still consider cargo as a complementary
activity to their scheduled passenger flights. Cargo is transported in the belly
space of the aircraft or on board of pax/combi aircraft. Some flag carriers are
66
using full freighters and sometimes set up an independent cargo division in their
organizational structure. Lufthansa Cargo is a typical example.
The real cargo niche market is served by those carriers who operate full freighters
only, such as Cargolux and Polar Air Cargo, or by the express services of Federal
Express, UPS, TNT, DHL .
In line of globalization and economies of scale, full freight operations are
becoming steadily more important. Cargo alliances on the other hand are still less
popular than the passenger alliances. Skyteamcargo runs parallel to the passenger
Skyteam alliance, and WOW consists of Singapore Airlines cargo, Japan Airlines
Cargo, SAS Cargo, Lufthansa Cargo. To reduce the paperwork in the air cargo
business an initiative, called Cargo 2000, was initiated by IATA with the aim to
increase the efficiency and to lower costs (Conway, Paper farewell, p. 48 50).
Most cargo operators are member of The International Air Cargo Association
(TIACA).
Table 4.
Leading European players in the air cargo market (2004)
Company Revenue $ million
Lufthansa Cargo 2,923
Air France-KLM Group 2,900
Cargolux 1,186
British Airways 889
Martinair 615
Alitalia 532
SAS Cargo 386
Swiss 356
Iberia Airlines 303
Finnair 181
THY Turkish Airlines 178
Volga-Dnepr Airlines 168
Austrian Airlines Group 168
Source: Tacoun, p. 59.
67
The basic concept of the low cost phenomenon has already been discussed in
paragraph 2.1.1. The typical niche market served by the no-frills carriers is point
to point short haul transportation. Growth rates in terms of revenue are very high,
up to double digit level for some European operators.
Table 5.
Revenue growth rates in the European low-cost air transport sector
Carrier Growth rates 2004 - 2005
easyJet + 26.7 %
Ryanair + 31.7 %
Air Berlin + 14.9 %
Germanwings + 61.2 %
Hapag-Lloyd Express + 40.9 %
Norwegian + 69.5 %
Source: Baker, Blurring the model, p. 44.

The low-cost sector is continuously transporting more passengers, even during
2001, a disastrous year for the airline industry (Button-AEA, p. 27). Because of
the typical low fares, half of the low-cost passengers are new. They would either
not have traveled at all or would have used alternative transportation.
As most Croatian air transport is short haul and point to point, this is the typical
environment which is most suitable to low-cost services. The Croatian economy
has already a comparative cost advantage because of the overall lower factor
costs in Croatia compared to the EU average. The big challenge, for instance for
Croatian Airlines, is to try to stay ahead of the competition, because future EU
membership will make access of low cost competitors to the Croatian air travel
market much easier than it is already today. As is indicated by table 6, many low
fare airline connections to Croatia are already operational.
68
Table 6.
Low fare airline connections to Croatia
Air carrier Route
Aer Lingus Dublin Dubrovnik
easyJet Manchester/London Gatwick Split/Rijeka
Estonian Air Tallinn Dubrovnik
Fly Globespan Glasgow Pula
Fly Lal Vilnius Dubrovnik
Germanwings Cologne/Berlin/Stuttgart Split/Dubrovnik
Hapag-Lloyd Express Germany Rijeka/Dubrovnik
InterSky Friedrichshafen Zadar
Norwegian Norway Rijeka/Split/Dubrovnik
Onair Pescara Split
ScandJet Sweden/Denmark Zagreb/Pula
Sky Europe Central Europe Zadar/Split/Dubrovnik
Wizz Air London/Budapest - Zagreb/Split
Source: www.attitudetravel.com/croatia/lowcostairlines
Regional carriers are operating smaller aircraft in a typical range between 50 to
100 seats, serve mostly regional airports with lower landing fees, pay lower
wages to staff, and have less overhead costs because of a more simplified
organizational structure.
They have lower costs than the majors, but higher than the no frills carriers
They serve distances op to 500 km. Most of the European regional passengers (73
%) are transported by captive feeders. They fly passengers to the major hubs in
Europe and are majority or fully owned by the major carriers, while only 1 % of
the passengers use the services of an independently owned feeder (Regional
ranking 2005, p. 52). In contrast to Europe, independent US feeders constitute the
most important niche market as they transport 52 % of all regional passengers.
The only genuine regional niche market in Europe is that of the independent
regional carriers who operate their own routes and network. They represent 26 %
of all regional passengers carried.
69
Because of the short range distances, domestic air transport in Croatia and to the
immediate countries in the neighborhood is very suitable to be served by regional
air transport.
The underlying table illustrates the number of passengers carried by the most
important regional carriers in Europe.
Table 7.
Largest regional airlines in Europe (2005)
Airline Country Passengers (x 10)
Lufthansa Cityline Germany 5,975

Air Nostrum Spain 4,689
Austrian Arrows Austria 4,107
Aegean Airlines Greece 4,007
Rgional France 3,745
Brit Air France 3,484
BA Connect UK 3,407
KLM Cityhopper Netherlands 2,922
Binter Canarias Spain 2,700
Eurowings Germany 2,693
Alitalia Express Italy 2,128
KLM Cityhopper UK UK 2,021
Wideroes Flyveselskap Norway 1,825
Source: Regional ranking 2005, p. 57.
In contrast to the typical short distances of the regional carriers, the leisure
carriers -called as well charter companies - serve average trip lengths of more
than 2,000 km. As seats are pre sold to tour operators, they enjoy high load
factors and can charge relatively low fares. Most of the tour operators are selling
holiday packages, including air travel, accommodation and various tourist
activities. Ticket only selling is frequently available, but is not the primary
business of charter airlines.
As is indicated in table 8, some tour operators are using their own aircraft.
On less high density destinations, seats can be booked with other air carriers even
with scheduled airlines.
70
Table 8.
Key data for the leading European tour operators (2004)
TUI Tourism: revenue $ 16,322 million
Carriers Country Passengers (x 10) Average trip
length (km)
Thomsonfly UK 8,100 2,519
Hapagfly Germany 7,100 2,366
Corsair France 2,100 5,810
Britannia Nordic Sweden 1,150 3,530
Tui Belgium Belgium 1,000 2,300
Thomas Cook Airline Group: revenue $ 9,094 million

Carriers Country Passengers (x 10) Average trip length
(km)
Condor Flugdienst Germany 7,110 3,027
Thomas Cook Airlines UK 5,010 2,862
SunExpress Turkey 1,160 2,266
Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium 970 2,455
My Travel Airways: revenue $ 5,914 million

Carriers Country Passengers (x 10) Average trip
length (km)
MyTravel Airways UK 6,380 2,812
MyTravel Airways A/S Denmark 2.900 2,666
Source: Baker, New horizons: Focus leisure travel, p. 92 99.
The International Air Carrier Association (IACA) looks after the interests of the
leisure carriers, but nevertheless their market position is actually threatened by
the low cost competition.
There are multiple reasons. Tour operators traditionally offer fixed package
holidays and rely on early bookings, up to many months before departure. Many
consumers today decide increasingly for shorter but more frequent holidays. A
71
faster and more flexible solution for a holiday seeker is to book on line: the flight
with a no frills carrier, hotel accommodation, a rental car, and other tourist
services. This market behavior of dynamic packaging could be an early symptom
that the life cycle of the traditional package holiday is ending.
Some charter airlines understood the message, and have introduced in the
meantime low cost operations as well. Typical examples are Hapag-Lloyd
Express and Air Berlin.
Other carriers in the charter business start to substitute the short haul charter
flights by the more profitable long-haul destinations outside Europe.
While the low cost carriers serve the bottom end of the air transport market, the
premium part is taken care of by business and executive air transport.
It is a recent trend that some scheduled air carriers introduce on selected routes
exclusive business class flights only. Lufthansa has some scheduled business
flights only from Dsseldorf and Mnchen to US destinations. The operations are
outsourced to the Swiss carrier Privatair who uses modified Airbuses A319LR
and Boeings 737 BBJ. These aircraft have a limited number of seats because of
the business class configuration and have long range tanks for the long haul route
to the US. KLM introduced recently a similar service between Amsterdam and
Houston.
Top of the market is the segment of business aviation, making it possible for
business travelers to use private air transportation. Air taxi operators can provide
different range of aircraft, from twin piston engine aircraft to business jets. Some
companies operate their own business jets, sometimes shared with other
companies under a fractional ownership arrangement (Warwick, p. 83 85).
Private business aircraft are increasingly used since 9/11, as less security risk is
involved.
Business jet manufacturers are actually in the stage of introducing the very light
business jet (VLJ) to the market. These jets have only a limited number of seats
but will have cheaper operational costs and will make fast business jet travel
more affordable to the business traveler market. Acquisition prices of VLJs are
expected to range between $ 1 to 4 million, while the top end long range business
jet can be priced up to $ 45 million. (Sarsfield, p. 68).
CONCLUSION
The EU air transport policy hardly existed before 1985. The European
air transport market was subject to the institutional framework of the ICAO at
world level, of the ECAC at European level, and finally of the national civil
aviation authorities at domestic level. International air transport as well in
Europe was dominated by restrictive bilateral agreements between
governments, resulting in a highly inefficient air transport market.
72
This anticompetitive situation was reversed for the first time in the world by the
American Airline Deregulation Act in 1978, followed by a similar initiative in the
European Community. Free pricing and market access, fair competition and
common licensing rules for air carriers were successfully introduced in the
European Union before the tragic events of 11 September, 2001.
The EU did not hesitate to continue in the post 9/11 era its liberalized air transport
policy.
Most Regulations and Directives during the last years have been adopted aiming
at deepening the liberalization process. Only a minority of actions were directly
related to the problems of 9/11, such as common EU rules for security controls at
airports and minimum mandatory insurance for air carriers.
At the same time, the EU tried to integrate the EU aviation markets with external
partners by expanding the European Common Aviation Area. Croatia participates
in this ECAA project, and is as such already aligned with EU air transport policy.
The basic business strategies applied in the EU air transport sector did not
fundamentally change after 9/11, although some business responses occurred at a
higher frequency and more intensively. Illustrative were the drastic capacity
reductions in the sector immediately after the terrorist attacks.
Most other strategies aiming at increased efficiency and cost cutting continued in
the same way as in the past: airline and airport alliances, outsourcing in the sector
of catering, ground handling and maintenance. Some niche markets continued the
upward trend, especially the extreme segments of the market served by the low-
cost operators and executive business carriers.
Many regional carriers are feeding passengers into the main hubs of the major
airlines or are operating their own short distance network. Leisure carriers are
switching into longer haul flights and start to introduce as well ticket only low-
cost operations as a substitute to the declining full package holiday formula.
Cargo operations tend to become more a specialized business by the expanding
market share of the full freighters and express services.
Croatia Airlines is integrated in the EU air transport network via membership of
the Star alliance and its bilateral code share agreements with other major carriers
in Europe.
The growing tourist sector could enhance additional growth for the Croatian air
transport sector.
It will depend on appropriate and correct management strategies whether this
growth will create new opportunities for Croatian companies, such as Croatia
Airlines. Especially foreign low-cost and regional operators could constitute a
huge competitive challenge.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
73
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Implications, Edward Elgar, 2000, 377 p.
74
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Transport System, George Mason University (US), A study for the Association of
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76
Dr. sc. Paul Roosens

Redoviti professor
Fakultet primijenjene ekonomije
Odjel za meunarodnu ekonomiju, meunarodni management i diplomaciju
Sveuilite u Antwerpenu
Belgija
SEKTOR ZRANOG TRANSPORTA EUROPSKE UNIJE U

RAZDOBLJU NAKON 11. RUJNA
Saetak
Teroristiki napad 11. rujna 2001. godine u New Yorku uzrokovao je veliku krizu
u svjetskom i europskom zranom sektoru.
Deregulacija trita zranog transporta Europske Unije ve je bila potpuno
ostvarena i prije traginog dogaaja 11. rujna, koja je bila bazirana na politici
slobodnog pristupa tritu, okruju lojalne konkurencije i pravilima zajednikog
licenciranja za zrane prijevoznike. Europska Unija je usvojila dopunske mjere u
razdoblju nakon 11. rujna kako bi se uklonila bilo koja druga meugranina
konkurencija u zranom sektoru Europske Unije, od kojih je samo nekolicina bila
izravan odgovor novonastalim problemima osiguranja.
U meuvremenu Europska Unija je pokazala elju za konsolidaciju svoje politike
zranog prometa sa mnogim zemljama treeg svijeta tako to je proirila
European Common Aviation Area (Europski Zajedniki Zrani Prostor).
Hrvatska vlada sudjeluje u ovom projektu.
Veina poslovnih sudionika na tritu zranog prometa Europske unije zadrali
su istu strategiju u razdoblju nakon 11. rujna, iako katkad s promjenjivim
stupnjem uestalosti i intenziteta. Poseban naglasak je bio stavljen na veoj
efikasnosti i smanjivanju trokova.
Tipine strategije su lanstvo u udruenjima, eksternaliziranje netemeljne
djelatnosti ili usredotoenje na trine nie kao to je teret, jeftine i regionalne
operacije, zrani transport za odmor i privredne subjekte.
U sluaju lanstva u Europskoj Uniji, Hrvatska mora potpuno usvojiti
zakonodavstvo vezano za zrani transport Europske Unije nazvano acquis
communautaire. Ovdje se ne oekuju nikakvi problemi za Hrvatsku budui da je
ona ve priznata kao lan European Common Aviation Area (Europskog
Zajednikog Zranog Prometa).
Gledajui s poslovnog aspekta primjeuje se da je Croatia Airlines lan mree
zranog transporta Europske Unije i to putem lanstva u udruenju Star i ostalih
ugovora u slinim udruenjima.
77
Hrvatske domae i meunarodne zrane linije su veoma pogodne za jeftine i

regionalne operacije. U ovom polju se moe oekivati dosta konkurencije od
strane stranih zranih prijevoznika.
Kljune rijei: deregulacija, acquis communautaire, eksternalizacija, trina
nia
JEL klasifikacija: R49
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EKON. MISAO PRAKSA DBK. GOD XV. (2006) BR. 1. (51-78) Roosens, P.

Dr. Paul Roosens

THE EU AIR TRANSPORT SECTOR IN THE POST 9/11

UDK / UDC: 656.7:4(1-67)

expected because Croatia is already aligned as a member of the European

1. THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONAL FRAME-

2. THE EU AIR TRANSPORT POLICY

2.1.1. Free pricing

2.1.2. Free market access

There is however no legal obligation for privatization neither for Croatia

2.1.3. Fair antitrust environment

2.1.4. Common licensing rules of air carriers

3. STRATEGIES IN THE AIR TRANSPORT SECTOR

between $ 274 billion up to 1,041.7 billion (ATAG, p. 25). Regional economic

Airline companies using flexible leasing contracts can enjoy a competitive

3.1. Airline alliances

Adria Airways 165

Austrian Airlines 2,940

3.3. Niche markets

Source: Tacoun, p. 59.

Source: Baker, Blurring the model, p. 44.

Airline Country Passengers (x 10)

Lufthansa Cityline Germany 5,975

Thomas Cook Airline Group: revenue $ 9,094 million

My Travel Airways: revenue $ 5,914 million

ACI Europe, The social and economic impact of airports in Europe,

ICAO, Government intervention in air transport in the European Union,

Dr. sc. Paul Roosens

SEKTOR ZRANOG TRANSPORTA EUROPSKE UNIJE U

Hrvatske domae i meunarodne zrane linije su veoma pogodne za jeftine i

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