ACI Asia-Pacific and ACI Europe have jointly called on India and the European Union (EU) to establish a comprehensive aviation agreement to liberalise traffic rights and boost regulatory alignment, including the acceleration of decarbonisation policies between the two regions.
The call came on the occasion of the EU-India Aviation Summit kicking off recently in New Delhi organised jointly by the European Commission and the Ministry of Civil Aviation of India.
In a joint statement, ACI Asia-Pacific and ACI Europe noted that India's aviation sector has been amongst the fastest growing in the world, with ACI's long-term forecast indicating that by 2041 India is expected to grow by 339% over 2022, reaching 1.1 billion passengers flown.
They added that this will result in fast-increasing demand on EU-India routes.
"Therefore, it is essential for India and the EU to work on a comprehensive aviation agreement that would effectively enable the development of air connectivity by removing current traffic rights limitations and red tape," the statement said.
"Crucially, such a comprehensive aviation agreement would support trade and tourism with significant benefits for consumers and the economy on both sides," it added.
ACI Asia-Pacific and ACI Europe also emphasised the need to increase cooperation and seek policy and regulatory alignment in areas such as environment, safety and security, facilitation and competition.
In particular, close alignment between the EU and India on how to fast-track the implementation of ICAO's Long-term Aspirational Goal of net zero CO2 emissions must be facilitated through a reinforced aviation partnership.
"Accelerating decarbonisation is a top priority for the aviation sector, and airports have been at the forefront of the decarbonisation challenge with both EU and Indian airports actively working on reducing their carbon emissions through the Airport Carbon Accreditation programme," the statement added.
Olivier Jankovec, director general of ACI EUROPE said liberal aviation agreements have become a staple of successful economic development strategies — with the connectivity they unleash being key to attracting inward investment and achieving economic diversification, among others.
"All this shows there is so much more at stake than just aviation in what we are discussing today in New Delhi. There is no doubt that a comprehensive aviation agreement between the EU and India would be a game-changer on many levels," Jankovec added.
"We, therefore, urge both the EU and India to move forward and start negotiations as soon as possible."
Stefano Baronci, director general of ACI Asia-Pacific, for his part, noted that the economic and social implications of stronger cooperation between the EU and India are "clear to all, given the strong perspective to growth of these two partners."
Both the European and Indian airport industries welcomed the EU-India Aviation Summit as a springboard for establishing closer cooperation and integration between the two markets.
