THE EU AIR TRANSPORT SECTOR IN THE POST 9/11 ERA

The terrorist attacks of 11 September, 2001 in New York have been putting the air transport sector in de world and the European Union in a deep crisis. The deregulation of the EU air transport market was already fully accomplished before the tragic events of 9/11. The policy was based on free fare setting and market access, on a fair competitive environment and on common licensing rules for air carriers. In order to eliminate any other unfair cross border competition in the EU air transport sector, complementary actions were adopted by the EU in the post 9/11 era. Only a minority of these actions were a direct response to the new security problems. In the meantime the EU demonstrated the ambition to consolidate its air transport policy with many third countries by expanding the European Common Aviation Area. The Croatian government participates in this project. Most business players in the EU air transport market continued the same strategies in the post 9/11 era as they used before, although sometimes in varying degrees of frequency and intensity. High emphasis was put on more efficiency and cost cutting. Typical strategies are membership of alliances, outsourcing non core activities or the focus on niche markets, such as cargo, low-cost and regional operations, leisure and executive business air transport. In case of future EU membership, Croatia has to adopt the complete legislation – called acquis communautaire - in the field of EU air transport. Problems are not expected because Croatia is already aligned as a member of the European Common Aviation Area. On the business side can be observed that Croatia Airlines is part of the EU air transport network via membership of the Star alliance and other code share agreements. Croatian domestic and international air routes are very suitable for low-cost and regional operations. A lot of competition in this field can be expected from foreign carriers