ERA 2012 General Assembly

"EU States struggling to manage current economic constraints are seeing increasing taxation of air passengers and higher user charges as easy ways to raise State revenues"

“EU States struggling to manage current economic constraints are seeing increasing taxation of air passengers and higher user charges as easy ways to raise State revenues, without consideration of the effects that such increased burdens have on air transport and the consequential negative effects on their national economy”, said Mike Ambrose, Director General of ERA* at the Association’s annual General Assembly held in Dublin in late September. Ambrose also highlighted the European regional aviation industry’s concerns over alarming increases in jet fuel in recent years, the need for greater transparency in setting airport charges and the importance of establishing a level playing field across transport modes in Europe.

Mike Ambrose, who retires from his post as Director General of the Association in January, hosted the event alongside Marc Lamidey, ERA President and Simon McNamara who takes up the role of Director General of ERA from January 2013.

Christoph Mueller, Aer Lingus, Pádraigh Ó Céidigh, Aer Arann and Christine Ourmières of CityJet were just a few of the headline speakers at the meeting that attracted over 500 senior representatives from the European aviation industry.

At the meeting in Dublin ERA was also pleased to welcome two new airline members to the Association - bmi Regional and Cimber. bmi Regional operates from regional airports including Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds Bradford, Manchester and East Midlands to 14 destinations. Cimber is a regional airline that focuses on ACMI operations.

ERA AIRPORT AWARD

London Southend Airport has won the European Regions Airline Association (ERA) Airport Achievement Award 2012/13. The South-East England airport has previously won the Award in 2010.

Mr Alastair Welch, Managing Director, received the trophy last night during a prestigious Awards Dinner held at the Dublin Convention Centre, part of the Association’s annual General Assembly.

The judges were impressed by the airport’s ability to transform plans into practical results, which led to the delivery of five major infrastructure projects in the last 12 months alone. In a tough financial environment, London Southend airport managed to realise its ambitious plans to create a modern, yet compact infrastructure, centred on the needs of its workforce as well as its passengers, and with a high focus on social and environmental considerations. The airport was described by the judges as “a jewel in London’s gateway.”

London Southend Airport is based in Southend-on-Sea in Essex, UK and is 100% owned by the Stobart Group. In 2011 it handled 42,515 passengers, up from 3,886 in 2010.

The ERA Airport Achievement Award aims to reward an airport achievement which has had a positive impact on intra-European air transport operations and recognises the importance of airline-airport partnerships. It is judged by a panel of distinguished industry experts from throughout Europe.

Future fleet financing

Future fleet financing, where does the money come from? Christine Ourmières, CEO CityJet, chaired the session which also included contributions from Mark Dunnachie, managing director of ECC Leasing and Giovanni Tramparulo, special sales finance advisor to the CEO of ATR. The theme provoked lively debate which was centred around future industry developments and financing.
The Annual General Assembly Meeting closed the Dublin conference. Christine Ourmières, CEO of Irish carrier CityJet, was elected onto the Board of ERA, only the second female airline president to be elected to the ERA Board in the Association's 32-year history. Joining Christine in the Airline (Regular Member) category, were Boet Kreiken, managing director, KLM Cityhopper, and Nicolae Petrov, president & CEO, Carpatair, who were both re-elected for a further three-year term. Bryan Huxford, chairman of UK carrier Eastern Airways, was also elected to the Board.

Elections to the Board

In the Associate1 Category (aircraft and engine manufacturers), Ricardo Lugris, senior sales director, Embraer, was elected for the first time and Clemente Affinito, vice president sales – Europe, ATR, was re-elected for another term.
Jan Palmér, board member of Swedish cargo carrier Amapola Flyg, was elected in the Affiliate 1 Airline Category.
Three Resolutions were also agreed by ERA members on the final day. These raised serious concerns about the planned introduction of technological solutions for the screening of Liquids, aerosols and gels (LAGs) in cabin baggage, the lack of progress in the implementation of the Single European Sky Project and the need to encourage the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to expedite plans to reduce the aggregate costs of regulation to industry.
Source:Air transport News