EASA About to Receive Additional Responsibilities

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is about to receive additional responsibilities in the area of licensing and control in air traffic, agreed the representatives of the EU Parliament in Brussels, experts of the EC and representatives of the EU member countries.

The Agency is expected to take over its new tasks by 2008 and those new tasks include the licensing of air companies, the setting up of new safety rules as well as control, inspection and technical safety check-ups.

According to EC experts, a special safety hazard for Europe represent air companies from African and Asian countries. Those potentially un-safe companies tend to ‘shop’ for necessary traffic permits by going from one EU member country to the other.

The EC experts concluded that it was important to extend the EASA responsibilities in order to help prevent the further penetration of such 'Trojan horses'.

In the future it will be necessary for the EASA to improve its ability to sanction misdemeanors instantly as they occur, said Joerg Leichtfried European Parliament representative.

Another important topic will be the financing of those additional safety measures. According to the EASA executive director Patrick Godou, that could be achieved by charging additional fees from the passenger.

The Agency will need almost EUR 50 million per year in order to hand out certificates which is ‘almost nothing’ compared to the money made in the area of air transport, said Goudou.  

News from media