IATA Wings of Change Europe Conference Calls for EU to Prioritize Competitiveness and Sustainability

22 November 2024 - The International Air Transport Association's Wings of Change Europe (WOCE) event concluded with a call for industry and governments to work together with practical actions to make Europe more competitive and sustainable.

Highlights included:

In his keynote, Filip Cornelis, Director for Aviation, DG MOVE, European Commission, explained that the new Commission would likely offer continuity of policy direction, but with a greater focus on improving competitiveness, through a focus on the recommendations of the Draghi report. He was clear that there would be no change of course on aviation sustainability, arguing that aviation needed to be a ‘bright green, not hopelessly brown” sector.

A CEO panel discussion with Andrea Bernassi (ITA Airways), Luis Gallego (IAG), Christian Scherer (Airbus) and IATA DG Willie Walsh continued the emphasis on European competitiveness. The reform of EU 261 was a clear ‘win' the new Commission should focus on, along with taking steps to prevent the Single European Sky from ‘dying'. Taxation was regarded as a blunt instrument unsuitable for driving forward the sustainability agenda, and entirely in opposition to the aims of the Draghi report.

“Europe must understand that its overregulation is reducing the global competitiveness of European industries. The Draghi recommendations shouldn't just be a report – they must be implemented. Key to that is a better approach to sustainability. Regulators need to understand that taxing people off planes will not reduce CO2. The planes will still fly, but we will be returning to the load factors of 20 or 30 years ago. That means reducing the access to air travel for millions of people, causing huge socio-economic damage, for zero environmental benefit. What's needed is practical action, such as reviving the single European Sky which could cut emissions by 10% overnight, and better incentives for increasing production of SAF,” said Willie Walsh, IATA's Director General.

Hosted by ITA Airways in Rome, WOCE attracted over 300 delegates and heard from key speakers across a range of crucial industry issues.