Antonio Tajani and Karoline Edtstadler, representing the European Parliament, signed an important regulation on 4 July 2018. It became effective two months later. Regulation 2018/1139 replaces various earlier regulations and reorganises many things in the field of aviation supervision.
But the more than 200-page body of rules also opens up new opportunities for European airlines. If they operate in several countries, they can place themselves under the central supervision of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. Certification, supervision and enforcement will then be carried out by EASA's experts rather than by national authorities.
This option caught the eye of the Lufthansa Group strategists. As an international group with airlines in Germany, Belgium, Austria, Italy and Switzerland, it currently has to negotiate with five authorities. These include the German Federal Aviation Authority, the Austrian Supreme Civil Aviation Authority and the Italian Ente Nazionale per l'Aviazione Civile. A central contact person at Easa in Cologne could simplify processes - and help save costs.
«We are examining whether our airlines should be placed under the supervision of Easa,» a Lufthansa spokesperson confirmed to aeroTELEGRAPH. He explains the background to this, saying that the Group is constantly looking at ways in which it could improve its structural position. This includes the new possibility of opening up Regulation 2018/1139. However, no decision has yet been made.
The Swiss newspaper «Sonntagszeitung» had previously reported that the Lufthansa subsidiary Swiss could be placed under the control of Easa. Such a change in supervision would not only have consequences for the airlines themselves. The national authorities would also lose their biggest customers - and would therefore probably have to cut jobs.
You can download the EU Regulation 2018/1139 here.
