Conditions "worst on record" - AEA
Chief executives from Europe's top network carriers met with EU transport commissioner Antonio Tajani to press home the crisis facing the airline industry.
The Association of European Airlines (AEA), led by chairman Ivan Misetic, called on the EU to help airlines by "removing barriers" and extending the suspension of the "use-it-or-lose-it" airport slot rule.
Mr Misetic cited sector-wide declines in passenger traffic and revenues of 7% and 12% respectively since late last year.
He described the industry crisis as "an economic maelstrom" and the worst on record.
Mr Misetic, ceo of Croatia Airlines, was joined by Jean-Cyril Spinetta of Air France-KLM, British Airways' Willie Walsh, Wolfgang Mayrhuber of Lufthansa and Steve Ridgway of Virgin Atlantic, as well as AEA Secretary General Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus.
The group said Europe's airlines were not looking "for taxpayer-backed bailouts" but would need help from the EU to weather the effects of the economic downturn.
"The airlines want to manage their own way out of the crisis and that means removing barriers and creating pathways back to prosperity," Mr Misetic said.
The AEA chairman said airlines now had "some degree of confidence" that capacity could be matched with falling traffic following the suspension of the 80-20 slot rule.
The rule, suspended following an EC recommendation, required airlines to use slots allocated to them for at least 80% of the time or risk losing them permanently.
Mr Misetic urged the EU to extend the suspension into the winter period.
"We must have the opportunity to maintain this process through the winter," he said.
A decision by the European Investment Bank to stop its support of the airline sector urgently needed to be reviewed, the AEA said.
It added: "The recession had not relieved the airlines of their need to access funds to regenerate their business and maintain their commitment to the environment."
The group asked that Mr Tajani closely monitor the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) which they claimed had been "relentlessly promoting and augmenting its role."
They said recent EASA legislative proposals were of "questionable effectiveness but unquestionable costliness."
Mr Misetic added: "We are told that the Commission recognises the importance of air transport, to European jobs and prosperity, to mobility and cohesion.
"If that is so, then they must recognise that all these benefits are at risk in the current crisis, and extend the appropriate institutional support for a key European industry."
In a letter sent to Mr Tajani after the meeting, Mr Misetic called on the commissioner to raise concerns over the state of the airline industry with the president of the EU.
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