Europe’s regional airlines face many challenges–not least of which centers on trying to change the way politicians in Brussels view aviation. The European Regions Airline Association (ERA) expends much effort on behalf of its 65 members trying to convince Eurocrats that regional airlines provide vital economic links that need nurturing in an era of consistently high fuel prices and an economic downturn severe enough to threaten the very existence of the European Union.
To the ERA, it appears that the European Commission’s good intentions sometimes prove ill-conceived and, even when not, the industry runs the risk that draft legislation passing through the European Parliament will damage airlines for the long term. The airlines see even the European Court of Justice as adversely affecting how legislation is applied. The European way, complain the ERA and its members, is to defend the consumer and the environment at any cost to business.
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