EBAA-GAMA study warns of EU bizjet flight restriction costs

Restricting business aviation in the EU will lead to a loss of nearly €70-120bn in foreign direct investment and loss of 57,000 to 104,000 jobs, a study commissioned by General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) and European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) found.
The study was carried out by Oxford Economics which found that business aviation contributes nearly €100bn in economic value to the EU.
The mandate for the study, titled “The Socio-economic Benefits of Business Aviation in Europe”, was issued in response to recent proposals by EU regulators to cap short-haul flights and place slot restrictions on business aviation in certain airports.
The study noted that while reducing CO2 emissions is a priority, the policy makers also need to take into account whether the proposals will lead to significant economic consequences. The study looked at two scenarios which are broadly in line with the proposals currently being discussed by EU policy makers.
Under the first scenario, the study assumed complete restriction of flights below 1,000 km and slot restrictions for business aviation in Amsterdam Schiphol, Rome Ciampino, and Brussels airport. In the second scenario, the study assumed complete restriction of flights below 500 km and slot restrictions for business aviation in Amsterdam Schiphol, Rome Ciampino, and Brussels airport.
“Overall, the measures under the two policy scenarios assessed in our analysis would reduce connectivity in Europe thereby making the region less attractive for Foreign Direct Investment. This would be driven by a 45% reduction in the volume of business aviation flights under Scenario 1 and a 70% reduction under Scenario 2 for flights departing from or arriving at European airports,” said the study’s authors in their conclusion.
In contrast, the study proposes that EU policymakers can reduce business aviation’s CO2 emissions by nearly 80% by ramping up use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) without the need to reduce business aviation flights and affecting aircraft connectivity.
The restrictions in either scenarios could cause ripple effects across the aviation sector.
“The sector’s supply chain could encompass European aircraft manufacturers whose domestic customers will be facing a restrictive landscape likely to reduce their demand for purchasing new aircraft and maintenance services. By 2022 estimates, this could affect an additional 355,000 jobs and a €56bn GDP contribution supported by the sector’s supply chain and workers’ spending,” found the study.
The study recommended use of green technology solutions such as SAF to reduce aviation sector’s CO2 emissions. However, scaling SAF supply remains a challenge.
“The lack of specialisation on novel technologies, like SAF, was identified as a problem sustaining the innovation gap between the EU27 and the US or China in the Draghi report for the European Commission. To bridge this gap, the report highlights that decarbonisation plans should be “matched by leadership on the technologies that will supply it”. It also added that “the EU needs to start building a supply chain for alternative fuels, or the costs of meeting its [decarbonisation] targets will be significant”,” said the report.