Europe’s aviation sector welcomes the Clean Industrial Deal (CID) as a positive first step towards balancing industrial decarbonisation and economic competitiveness, but reiterates its call on the European Commission to go beyond and take concrete steps to safeguard the aviation industry’s competitiveness with a dedicated strategy and action plan.

The CID is yet another recognition of the need to support low‑carbon fuels and charging infrastructure for aviation. But competitive aviation is about more than just fuels. The Destination 2050 roadmap outlines four key pillars to get aviation to net zero, including Sustainable Aviation Fuels, air traffic management (ATM) optimisation, new aircraft technology and economic measures. Each of these requires targeted support from policymakers. The Draghi Report has already proposed a suite of measures that now require urgent action from the Commission. While the sector awaits the Sustainable Transport Investment Plan (STIP), the Commission must act now to secure a more competitive and sustainable future for European aviation by: 

Recognising aviation’s strategic importance as a key driver of Europe’s economic growth with a comprehensive aviation strategy,

Implementing an EU industrial strategy for Sustainable Aviation Fuels that accelerates cost reductions and scales up production,

Delivering specific support mechanisms for the implementation of Fit for 55, 

Rolling out alternative financing mechanisms to support the sector’s transition, 

Supporting continued research and industrial scale up support to unlock next‑generation aircraft and ATM technologies to maximise efficiency gains.

The Destination 2050 alliance, committed to climate neutral European aviation, sent a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on February 12, outlining proposals for concerted, multi-stakeholder efforts to make the transition to net‑zero carbon aviation a reality.

The window for decisive action is closing. The EU must take the lead to ensure European aviation remains globally competitive throughout this transition. The time to act is now.

See for details AVIONEWS.