Airport charges: Revision of Directive 2009/12/EC

The Airports Charges Directive 2009/12/EC is the main legislative act regulating the essential features of airport charges. Airport charges are the charges that the airlines pay to the airports for using their infrastructure and facilities. The two main issues that the directive aims to tackle are the risk that some airports might set prices and terms that are not in line with a competitive market, and the diverging and non-transparent charging systems in the Member States. If the evaluation of the directive revealed positive effects of the regulation, it also identified problematic issues, which hampers the full achievement of its objectives. The European Commission is expected to submit a new proposal by the end of the year.