Evaluating the Airport Charges Directive

The 2009 Airport Charges Directive established a common framework for regulating certain features of airport charges setting at the largest airports within the EU/EEA. By the end of 2016, it became apparent to the European Commission that there was a need to evaluate the Directive and assess whether there was a need to revise it.

After successfully working on the Directive in 2013, Steer was appointed in January 2017 to lead this highly political and complex pan-European study.

As part of the evaluation, Steer gathered evidence on airport charges from all 32 EU/EEA Member States and their largest airports. We undertook an extensive programme of engagement across Europe with airports, their regulators, airlines and other stakeholders. We then conducted an in-depth analysis of all the data collected and presented eight airport case studies.

This allowed us to produce a comprehensive report of more than 1000 pages, which addressed all the complex issues and questions raised by the European Commission. We provided balanced conclusions and made recommendations for the Commission to consider as a way forward.

Successes and outcomes

The work attracted a significant amount of interest across Europe and was discussed directly with the European Transport Commissioner, Ms Violeta Bulc.

Steer concluded that the 2009 Airport Charges Directive has not yet fully achieved its objectives. Whilst remaining broadly appropriate, the objectives of the Directive had not addressed all the issues that may be relevant today in view of market and regulatory developments.

Our work was instrumental in enabling the European Commission to obtain Europe-wide evidence. Combined with its experience of monitoring the implementation of the Directive, the Commission decided to launch an impact assessment to assess policy options for future changes in the setting of airport charges.

The Commission appointed Steer in May 2018 to undertake this impact assessment.