2012
was a historic year for members of the European Low Fares Airline
Association (ELFAA), as for the first time they carried more than 200
million passengers, thereby continuing their upward trend
year-on-year despite the difficult financial environment.
“These
results demonstrate that the low cost business model is not only
sustainable, even during difficult economic times, but also provides
an attractive and affordable travel option for consumers,” said
John Hanlon, Secretary-General of ELFAA.
For
the period January-December 2012 ELFAA airlines carried 202.4 million
passengers, an increase of 7.2% on the previous year, whilst the load
factor remained stable at an average of 83.2%. This means ELFAA
airlines flew fuller planes than their competitors, leading to gains
in efficiency from both a business and environmental perspective.
Mr
Hanlon continued: “These latest figures show ELFAA airlines
continuing to thrive, despite the many challenges facing our industry
sector, such as ongoing injections of illegal state aid to flagship
carriers such as SAS, and the ongoing failure to implement the Single
European Sky.”
“These
failures impede the further development of the low cost sector,
threaten open competition in passenger aviation in Europe, and
undermine environmental protection through the enforced circuitous
routings of aircraft through a patchwork of national airspace blocs.”
“The
number of ELFAA aircraft also grew by 9.4% on the previous year which
reflects members’ continued growth as well as new ventures, which
certain airlines established in the past year.”
Mr
Hanlon concluded: “As one of the most innovative and dynamic
business sectors in Europe, it is not surprising that low fares
airlines have flourished. ELFAA members are intent on continuing this
trend into the future, but to do this we need a regulatory landscape
which enables our sector to perform at its potential, remain highly
competitive, and continue to provide opportunities for all strata of
society to travel affordably by air.”
“A
very real threat lies in the proposed partial moratorium on
application of EU ETS to all flights other than intra-EU flights.
This highly discriminatory proposal will, if adopted, not only
distort competition but decimate the environmental effectiveness of
EU ETS, 80% of EU aviation missions of CO2 resulting from longhaul
flights. ELFAA urges the European Parliament and Council to reject
this ill-conceived and damaging proposal.”
