- Airlines for Europe hosted a briefing in Brussels on European airline competitiveness
- Traffic was up 2.3pc in summer 2025 but there were 10.8m minutes of delays
- Carsten Spohr stated Europe needs a real aviation strategy
- Michael O’Leary stated Eurocontrol is not fit for the present or future
- Executives called for CORSIA to remain the primary mechanism for international aviation emissions
Airlines for Europe has hosted a briefing in Brussels where chief executives from the five biggest European member airline groups discussed the competitiveness of European airlines. Ourania Georgoutsakou, managing director of A4E, provided background data showing that traffic was up 2.3pc in summer 2025 according to the Eurocontrol database. However, there were 10.8m minutes of delays, equivalent to 20.5 years of collective lives lost in the air or on the ground, and about €1bn in costs to airlines. Airspace and capacity remain a problem, accounting for almost 50pc of all delays.
Carsten Spohr of Lufthansa stated Europe needs a real aviation strategy. The market share of European airlines connecting Europe non-stop with Asia has come down by about one-third in the last 20 years. Istanbul passed London Heathrow in terms of connectivity this year. Spohr called for airlines which can compete globally, aligning aviation policy with global standards including CORSIA, and a competitiveness check for aviation legislation. He stated the SAF quota and ETS have become a primary cost driver and will eventually kill European airlines if not changed.
Ben Smith of Air France-KLM stated existing European legislation is already creating competitive distortions which are set to increase over time, referring to ReFuelEU and the EU ETS. Luis Gallego of IAG stated decarbonisation is imposing a cost burden on European aviation through the SAF mandate and ETS, creating an increasing competitive gap with non-EU airlines. Michael O’Leary of Ryanair stated Eurocontrol is not fit for the present or the future, with air traffic control causing over 90pc of EU airline delays. Kenton Jarvis of easyJet stated the EU ETS has an important role but a strong global framework is needed, and CORSIA should remain the primary mechanism.
Ourania Georgoutsakou shared “Europe is at a crossroads, and decision-makers have a choice: to keep Europe connected, to keep Europeans’ option to fly when and where they need to, and to keep European airlines competitive.”
