Publication: Is EU's Open Aviation Policy Good for Air Transport?
Loading...
Published
2017-06
ISSN
Date
2017-09-21
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
International air transport is at a crossroads. The aviation industry's center of gravity has moved toward the East, with main hubs in the Gulf region and ever-increasing passenger markets located in Asia. Long-haul inter-continental low-cost-carriers have emerged. Global alliances and their effects on competition have come into question. These outcomes have led to a reignited interest in the issue of liberalization in aviation: European regulators now need to balance concerns about fair competition with their own decades-long push for the multilateral liberalization of the aviation industry.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Abate, Megersa A.; Christidis, Panayotis. 2017. Is EU's Open Aviation Policy Good for Air Transport?. Connections;2017 - 3. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28353 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication The Role of Sustainable Aviation Fuels in Decarbonizing Air Transport(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022)The air transport sector is an integral part of economic growth and development. As the only available means of transporting passengers and goods across the globe within a single day, air transport provides critical connectivity between regions and better access to global markets. The creation of these benefits, however, leads to detrimental impacts on the environment and public health, including the emissions of climate-warming greenhouse gases (GHGs). This report emphasizes SAF as the main mitigation option that can most readily realize substantial GHG emission savings for air transport in the medium term (for example, the next 5 to 10 years). Sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) is the term used by the aviation industry to describe a set of fuels that can be sustainably produced and generate lower CO2 emissions than conventional kerosene on a life-cycle basis. In the context of international regulation developed under the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), SAF is defined more precisely as a renewable or waste-derived aviation fuel that meets a set of Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) Sustainability Criteria, including a GHG emission reduction criterion. Finally, continued support for sustainable aviation-fuel research and development is needed. This should include the development of feedstock supply chains, new and innovative production technologies, and the development of innovative business models that increase the value of all products and by-products of SAF production operations. As the SAF production and distribution network becomes global, a deeper analysis is also needed to design the structure of biomass feedstock and refined fuel products transportation, whether distributed or centralized, in streamlined supply chains.Publication Toward a Competitive Air Transport Market in Africa(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-10)This study examines the impact of bilateral air service agreements on air passenger transport in Africa and quantifies the consumer welfare effects associated with air transport liberalization. Using an unbalanced panel of 71 country pairs from Africa observed over 2011–19, the paper estimates the extent to which bilateral air service agreements liberalization affects the following: (1) passenger travel, (2) average airfares, (3) flight frequency, and (4) market competition within a country pair. The empirical analysis employs the difference-in-differences estimation method and pays close attention to the endogeneity concerns coming from the simultaneity and reverse causality surrounding the pricing, demand, and frequency decisions. The results indicate that both partial and full liberalization of bilateral air service agreements lead to a reduction in airfares and an increase in air travel demand and flight frequency, respectively. The analysis finds no evidence that market competition, as measured by the number of operating airlines, increases following liberalization. After quantifying all the channels through which the policy environment can affect air transport markets in Africa, the findings show that aviation liberalization generates consumer benefits that are equivalent to a 40–42 percent drop in airfares, that is, the price equivalent effect of air liberalization.Publication Transport Policies for the Euro-Mediterranean Free-Trade Area : An Agenda for Multimodal Transport Reform in the Southern Mediterranean(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2002-08)This study argues that the 15 European Union (EU) countries and their 12 Mediterranean Partners should complement their Euro-Mediterranean free-trade area for industrial goods with a common transport space. This would require the removal of policy-induced frictions in the region's multi-modal transport system in order to facilitate the flow of foods, people, and investments within this emerging trade block. The purpose of this report is to identify the bottlenecks and inefficiencies that currently exist and to map out the reforms in the legal, regulatory, and institutional framework that should be implemented to address them. This includes both national and cross-border policy measures in the various modes (air, maritime, and land-based transport) as well as in transport logistics. The study compares sector performance and sector policies within the concerned countries and it benchmarks these against international best practice. It draws on policy lessons from other developing regions, such as Latin America and Eastern Europe and assesses the extent to which the policy framework of the EU Single Market in the transport sector could provide guidance for the creation of a common transport space throughout the Mediterranean region.Publication Transport Connectivity for Food Security in Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-05-20)Food insecurity is a persistent global problem affecting hundreds of millions of people each year. Transport Connectivity for Food Security in Africa: Strengthening Supply Chains confirms the complexity of the problem and focuses on the transport dimension to its resolution. The book explores critical links between transport, logistics, and food security in Africa, with the goal of enhancing the resilience of food systems. The book relies on a World Bank in-house Freight Flow and Transport Choice Model (FlowMax) to analyze the supply chains of key food commodities in Africa. It explores how transport deficiencies affect food production, distribution, and imports and, ultimately, food security. It is the first of its kind to answer six questions that are often asked in relation to food security on the continent: 1. Why does Africa have a “long food supply chain”? 2. How can regional economic blocks facilitate a more efficient exchange of food between countries? 3. What impedes the distribution of food within countries? 4. Does Africa have a transport infrastructure problem that impacts the food supply chain? 5. Do market distortions in transport services contribute to high costs of food in Africa? 6. What hampers investment in storage as one of the ingredients to the weaknesses of food supply chains on the continent? Using the FlowMax model, the book identifies weaknesses and opportunities for improvement along the entire food supply chain, from local production and consumption to international linkages, aiming for more resilient food systems. Recommendations focus on fostering international network connectivity, increasing regional integration, strengthening domestic logistics, and improving access to markets.Publication Decarbonizing Air Transport(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-08-13)The US-China direct flights in mid-2023 were only 7 percent of those available in mid-2019. This quasi-experiment informs the debate on air transport de-carbonization. An estimated structural model shows that re-establishing the pre-pandemic direct connectivity could increase passengers by 387 percent and reduce prices by 63 percent. Moreover, due to the suppression of flights, carbon dioxide emissions decreased by 80 percent. A counterfactual exercise shows that maintaining pre-COVID connectivity and achieving the same emissions reduction through a market mechanism (i.e. offsetting), would have resulted in more passengers (+365 percent), lower prices (−60 percent), and lower reduction in consumer surplus (−40 percent) than observed in the post COVID-19 equilibrium. This
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Economic Analysis of Battery Energy Storage Systems(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-05)The recent advances in battery technology and reductions in battery costs have brought battery energy storage systems (BESS) to the point of becoming increasingly cost-effective projects to serve a range of power sector interventions, especially when combined with PV and where diesel is the alternative, or where subsidies or incentives are used. Quantifying the economic impact of BESS requires a high level of temporal granularity in the analysis, because the time-steps required for a reliable assessment of costs and benefits are much shorter than the usual annual time steps of many power sector investment projects. In short, there is as yet still limited experience in the economic and financial analysis of BESS investment projects particularly, in developing countries, and one cannot yet set out with clarity what constitutes best international practice. This report sets out the principles and practices of BESS economic analysis as required for the World Bank's appraisal of investment projects that cover the range of BESS projects likely to be encountered by the Bank over the next few years.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication The Political Economy of Decentralization Reforms : Implications for Aid Effectiveness(World Bank, 2011-06-24)This volume presents a preliminary framework designed to help international development partners consider the relevance of political economy issues for their programmatic support to decentralization and local government reform. The intention is neither to advocate decentralization in general or in any particular form, nor to presume or privilege any particular decentralization objective. Instead, the purpose is to document the potential value of better understanding how (primarily national and intergovernmental) political and institutional dynamics do or could affect the scope for realizing decentralization reforms aligned with commonly advocated service delivery, governance, and poverty reduction goals. The underlying premise is that systematic analysis of these issues can productively complement the dominantly technical diagnostic work typically carried out by development partners. Specifically, development partners can benefit from better understanding the practical significance of motives that drive politicians and bureaucrats to support or oppose reform at various stages of the decentralization process, from making an initial reform decision to detailed design and implementation. In addition, the framework addresses how these incentives can weaken, strengthen, or shift in response to changes in political and economic conditions that arise after reform begins. A general approach to conducting political economy of decentralization analysis is outlined, recognizing the need to tailor such analysis to the particular country context. This volume is based on literature reviews and knowledge derived from selected country experiences.Publication Reforming Regional-Local Finance in Russia(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2006)The book assesses the current state of Russia's regional and local fiscal relations, and self-government, and analyzes the related reforms undertaken over the past decade. The analysis is based on the kind of first-hand experience and in-depth knowledge of Russian intergovernmental reforms that only a handful of Western scholars possess. This book complements the earlier World Bank Institute (WBI) title Russia's Transition to a New Federalism (2001), reflecting the shift in Russia's policy reform agenda, from an emphasis on federal and regional relations, to the regional and local levels. The study uses a framework that integrates all the building blocks of federalism: size and structure of jurisdictions, expenditures, revenues, transfers, and borrowing. It offers reform options based on international practices and normative principles, while also identifying some dangers that may arise in implementing the next round of proposed intergovernmental reforms in Russia. The book was prepared as part of the WBI's program to train central and local government officials to carry out intergovernmental reforms, and to build a core group of local trainers who can deliver future programs independently. The current approach of the federal government toward regional-local relations presents a mix of rigid norms and loose guidelines. The Constitution gives the federal and regional government joint responsibility for the implementation of the citizens' right to local self-government. This has enabled the federal government to pass a number of constitutional laws that develop the framework for local governance. Regional governments were supposed to establish the system of local self-government on their territory in accordance with federal legislation, by passing regional legislation that would further elaborate the regional-local government arrangements. However, in areas where regional governments had some degree of policy freedom, often many did not have the required technical expertise to make their own informed policy choices. The easiest solution for defining regional-local relations seems to have been to copy the federal approach to federal-regional relations, and apply it at the regional-local level.Publication Republic of Madagascar : Tourism Sector Study(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2003-11)Madagascar has an impressive array of biodiversity, natural beauty and cultural resources to support tourism. Surprisingly, of the 200,000 visitors the island per year, only about 60,000 come expressly for tourism, the rest traveling for other reasons but which could include some tourism activity. Madagascar has the potential to welcome many more tourists if the sector's growth is well planned in a broad, multi-sectoral way - focusing on economic aspects, infrastructure and environmental and social concerns, particularly for community participation. This report sets outs a program for equitable development of the sector and evaluates the opportunities for growth and the barriers that currently block progress. The report features a survey of hotels and other tourism establishments. The report recommends a comprehensive master planning program and action program.