Earlier this week, ETF and aviation workers across Europe were surprised by the new airlines’ call for EU reforms for a competitive aviation sector, issued by the lobbying organisation Airlines for Europe (A4E). Although workers certainly agree with the need to boost the economic performance of European carriers, we believe that this statement misses that intent almost entirely.
In June 2025, ETF published its updated Vision for Civil Aviation. In this document, hundreds of thousands of aviation workers stand alongside their employers demanding reforms and investments that address the complete absence of a level playing field in the global aviation market. In short, European aviation workers demand the reforms that will see their employers succeed on the international stage.
Today, non-EU airlines are gaining market share by being able to do business in Europe without playing by European rules. To boost the economic performance of our airlines, we must start by requiring that non-EU airlines operating to and from airports in the EU comply with the established European standards, including those related to safety, social and employment aspects, environmental performance and restrictions on external airspace use, such as those currently applied to Russian airspace.
Out of all these aspects creating unfair global competition, A4E’s statement only mentions the environmental sustainability one. Instead of all the others, we were astonished to discover the reference to EU rules on compensations and cabin baggage, and air traffic management. Against the extremely challenging background described in the previous paragraph, these are two of the three priority areas for EU reforms selected by airlines to ensure “a competitive aviation sector tomorrow”. We doubt the seriousness of this prioritisation. (....)