The air transport in Europe represents 5 million jobs and contributes €300 billion, or 2.1% to European GDP.

Despite the current economic crisis, global air transport over the long term is expected to grow by around 5% annually until 2030. The common EU aviation policy aims at making Europe the safest air space in the world.

For these reasons, the EU has prepared a series of rules, tools and a common organization of the skies, through regulations, a coordination with the national Authorities and common Agencies. If in the 90's 1 600 euros were spent for a trip of a family of 4 from Milan to Paris, today 100 euros are enough!

Aviation Strategy

In December 2015 the European Commission adopted an Aviation Strategy for Europe, a milestone initiative to boost Europe's economy, strengthen its industrial base and reinforce its global leadership position. A strong and outward-looking aviation sector will not only benefit businesses, but also European citizens by offering more connections to the rest of the world at lower prices. Learn more

Single Market

The aviation market was gradually liberalised through three successive packages of measures adopted at EU level which covered air carrier licensing, market access and fares. So, decades of restrictions that had limited air transport markets in Europe and prevented cross-border investment by European airlines have been removed. Learn more

External Aviation

The gradual development of a more coordinated EU external aviation policy over the past decade has been the logical consequence of the creation of the EU internal market and associated common rules. This has generated significant economic benefits. But the Commission has now come with fresh ideas to move forward. Learn more

Single European Sky

Something needs to be done about the heavy airspace congestion causing lengthy delays on many European flights, and the strain on airport capacity due to the projected increase in traffic. This is the aim of the ambitious initiative for a Single European Sky (SES), launched in 2004. A second package of measures, known as SES II, followed in 2009 and had a greater emphasis on environment and cost efficiency. We are now looking at whether further measures are necessary. Learn more

SESAR

The technology required for the future Single Sky is provided through the air traffic management research programme SESAR, which aims to modernise infrastructure and raise efficiency by optimising capacity - and so enable the SES to become a reality. Learn more