Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 July 2014
732. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide an update on the open skies policy; the studies that have been carried out to show the impact this policy would have on the Irish aviation industry in the medium to long-term; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30783/14]
View answerIt is presumed that the Deputy's question refers to proposals in the draft National Aviation Policy that I published recently, to adopt a liberal approach to requests from airlines to operate 'fifth freeom' traffic rights on routes to/from Ireland. Such an approach would, for example, allow a non-EU airline to pick up passengers in Ireland on routes to the US in competition with Irish (EU) carriers and US carriers who are already allowed to serve this market on an unrestricted basis under the EU-US Open Skies agreement.
The benefits of Open Skies policies at EU level have been demonstrated. The liberalisation of the intra-EU market in the 1990s has led to huge growth in the number of routes being operated and competition has led to lower fares for consumers. Similarly the Open Skies agreements negotiated with the US and Canada have also led to a significant increase in the number of services on offer and has had a beneficial impact on prices.
The draft National Aviation Policy was published following an extensive public consultation process in 2013. The consultation process covered all elements of aviation policy and the draft takes account of the submissions received. On the issue of fifth freedom traffic rights for airlines, the majority of submissions received favoured the adoption of a fully liberalised approach. The policy proposal in Section 3.1 is that a liberal approach should be taken by my Department to any requests from non EU and non US airlines to serve routes to/from Ireland where there is a clear benefit for Ireland and the travelling public.
I have invited submissions from interested parties on the draft National Aviation policy by 31 July. Airlines and any other interested parties have an opportunity through the consultation process to express their views on this proposal and all other proposals in the draft before the closing date for submissions.
