European aviation law

Abstract:

Liberalisation of air transport has exercised the minds of EC politicians and bureaucrats for the last fifty years. National flag carriers have been forced to compete on equal terms and the European Union commercial aviation market is very close to being one free from state-imposed anti-competitive restrictions. This book examines the progress towards that liberalisation.

The work is organised over six substantive chapters. Following an introduction chapter two explores the Treaty of Rome’s competition rules and examines the actions that member European governments have taken towards liberalisation. The impact of the Single European Act is the focus of chapter three. Chapter four looks at the Court of Justice and the important cases that have circumscribed the zone of application in which the competition rules can regulate air transport. The role of EU institutions in the foundation of a unified European transport policy are addressed in chapter five. A detailed analysis of the regulatory environment by sector area follows in chapter six, which also considers the relevance of EU merger regulations to air transport. Chapter seven looks at intercarrier alliances. The author concludes by considering the way ahead and the prospect of the EU acting for the European commercial aviation market as a whole.

The book will interest European lawyers, EU officials, policy makers, practitioners and academics in a number of related fields world-wide.