TWTWTW 11 May – 15 May. A week of – mostly unheard – calls and surprises.
It is a new week, it is a new day, it is time to revitalise efforts to get rid of easyJet’s £4.5 billion order for 107 Airbus aircraft, the airline’s founder and 34% shareholder, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, thought. So Monday saw Sir Stelios call for support for his plot and offer a bounty of up to £5 million –yes, five million pounds sterling — in cash out of his own money to any whistle-blower who provides useful information that leads to the cancellation of the order. Maybe his months-long quest to have this order cancelled is not going that well.
In Brussels, European Commission Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans continued his quest for the European Green Deal. It is business as usual he reassured the EP’s Transport and Tourism Committee (TRAN).The Green Deal’s ambitions and targets are here to stay and the pandemic and the economic downturn have not pushed the environment into second place. Aviation must decarbonise. State aid to airlines should be conditional on environmental obligationssuch as fleet modernisation, sustainable fuels and the reduction of short haul flying where other means of transport is available. The imposing Dutch Commissioner had another reassuring word for the MEPs: their role in the CORSIA process is safeguarded! Surely not by coincidence, Adina V?lean, Commissioner for Transport, conveyed the same messages and reassuring words to the Europe an Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI). CORSIA is coming and the ETS is not going, she insisted.
Tuesday saw the UK move faster than the EU. The country’s Department for Transport issued two sets of guidance on how transport, including aviation, can be made “Covid-secure” – one for operators and one for passengers. The UK has a set-up almost as complicated and complex as the EU’s; the measures apply to England. IATA gave a sigh of relief, because the dreaded keep-the-middle-seat-empty rule did not make it into the guidelines. The document suggests, but does not enforce, face coverings for enclosed spaces where social distancing is not always possible and recommends workers and passengers keep 2m apart from others wherever possible.
As if the planned 14-day quarantine rules for passengers arriving from abroad in the UK — except for the Republic of Ireland and France, yes, France — did not cause enough upheaval, Spain decided to follow suit. The country published a decree introducing two-week quarantine for international travellers. As the external borders of the EU and the Schengen area are already closed with few exceptions, this measure concerns mostly EU nationals.
Wednesday saw the European Commission trying hard to undo what Spain and other member states have been doing, namely fracturing the single market and de facto annulling Schengen. Brussels called for the presence of five (5!) Commissioners during two press conferences to unveil the much-anticipated package of guidelines to help member states gradually lift travel restrictions at EU internal borders and allow tourism businesses to reopen while respecting necessary health precautions. Less is more. But not today. Not when it comes to safeguarding the well-deserved yearly holiday of Europe’s citizens (and the multibillion-euro tourism industry) and salvaging Europe’s prised principle of free movement. The EU executive announced an extensive list of ideas and recommendations, gelled together by calls for a common approach and coordination across the bloc.
While preaching the need for coordination, European Commissioners Margrethe Vestager and Adina Valean apparently failed to coordinate on THE hot topic since the pandemic: are passengers entitled to be reimbursed in cash for cancelled flights withing 7 days or does COVID-19 allow airlines to sidestep this obligation under EU261 and reimburse passengers with a voucher for future travel? “Passengers have the right on a cash refund if they want. Full stop,” Vestager stated. No surprise so far. Airlines were given the heads-up that the Commission was going to keep the passenger rights legislation—for all modes of transport and package travel—intact and only adopt a recommendation to make vouchers more attractive. Her next statement, however, did take insiders, airlines, and member states by surprise. Brussels is starting the first step of infringement procures against 12 member states, she revealed. “Letters will be sent to the member states who are in breach of this very fundamental principle. So these letters, they are going off as we speak,” the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Europe fit for the Digital Age and Competition told reporters. Out went the tweets and the breaking news reports.
During a later press conference Transport Commissioner Valean was dumbstruck when questioned about the infringement letters. “I’m not quite aware what Commissioner Vestager said. But I intend to send a letter to all member states. This is not an infringement letter. We do not evaluate at this stage who is in infringement. Let’s call it a letter of encouragement.” It did take a few hours — and a couple of not-so friendly exchanges between the respective cabinets — to sort out the muddle. Vestager later in the afternoon choose to clarify the matter via Twitter “Indeed. It was my misunderstanding about the status of the letter going out today. I am sorry that I caused confusion.” Is it fake news if the media faithfully report something that is wrong? Either way, the fake news was out, through no fault of the media.
The new normal is to describe everything that is happening at the moment as ‘the new normal’ so by Thursday the most recent new normal was trending on, with member states largely ignoring the Commission’s calls to coordinate their lockdown exits and announce opening of borders on their own terms and with the countries of their choice. However, Valean’s call – or was it Vestager’s infringement message — to respect EU261 and make vouchers a more attractive reimbursement option was heard in France and the Netherlands. In an exercise to save face and avoid costly European Court of Justice rulings, Air France and KLM came up with a swell-sounding explanation of their U-turn: “Recent developments on the global sanitary situation and the gradual lifting of quarantine measures give more clarity the evolution of the flight schedule for the near future. Therefore, Air France and KLM have decided to adjust their refund policy for flight cancellations taking place on 15th May and after. Concerned customers will be offered the choice of a voucher or a cash refund.” We are confused. What about the flight cancellations before 15 May?
Friday saw how to get creative during lockdowns. Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr flew into Brussels aboard a training aircraft, a Cessna Citation 525, for a meeting with the Belgian government on a bailout for Brussels Airlines. In case you are interested: Spohr flew home without a deal. In London, the UK government backtracked on Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s intention to exempt France from the 14-day quarantine for visitors. “There isn’t a French exemption,” a spokesman for Johnson was quoted in the FT. One of the of the reasons for the change of mind apparently was a little reminder from Brussels that Brexit is not yet done and that if all French visitors escaped the quarantine, it would lead to lawsuits in the European Court of Justice — unless the policy was extended to all EU citizens. Steadfast not to let the EU spoil his forthcoming weekend the way they had ruined thousands of his electorates’ summer holiday plans, Johnson organised an afternoon call with the Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to let him know he found a way to spare Irish citizens arriving in the UK from a two-week quarantine. The Common Travel Area between the UK and the Republic of Ireland would permit the exemption, he stressed.
But the week ended on a slightly positive note, brought to you by Eurocontrol. The analysis of the traffic in Eurocontrol member states based on the 7-day moving average, suggests that a turning point has been reached in April. Traffic is gradually resuming.