Hartmut Beyer, UNICONSULT Universal Transport Consulting GmbH, Hamburg

1. Assembly of European Regions Conference EUROPLANE – An Example of EU Support for Regional and Airport Development September 12, 2007 Poznan, Poland Hartmut Beyer, UNICONSULT Universal Transport Consulting GmbH, Hamburg

2. Introduction of UNICONSULT • Transport consulting company working on regional airport issues: • airport business development, airport benchmarking, market potential analyses, airport commercialisation and privatisation • Experiences from previous INTERREG regional airport projects: • SEABIRD (EU INTERREG II C) • SEAPLANE (EU INTERREG III B ) • Responsible for EUROPLANE Project Coordination • (EU INTERREG III C)Mission at the AER Conference • “To present one example that European Commission can be of some help for regional airports“

3. Ljungbyheds Airport (Ljungbyhed)) Kaunas County Governor´s Administration (Kaunas) Airport Rostock-Laage (Weitendorf) Sera South-East Regional Authority (Clonmel, co. Tipperary) Barnim County (Eberswalde) Ministry of Economics State of Brandenburg (Potsdam) Province of West-Vlaanderen (Sint-Andries (Brugge)) Marshal Office of the Wielkopolska Voivodship (Poznan) Aosta Valley Region Liguria Region (Genova) Marche Region (Ancona) The EUROPLANE Project INTERREG III C 11 partners plus 12 airports, 03/2006 – 12/2007 Budget € 840,000, thereof € 560,000 EU-contr. plus external support for coordination and air transport questions

4. 11 EUROPLANE Partners from 7 EU Countries Ministry of Economics State of Brandenburg Province of West-Vlaanderen Barnim County Airport Rostock-Laage Aosta Valley Region Liguria Region Giunta Regione Marche SERA South-East Regional Authority Marshal Office of the Wielkopolska Voivodship Kaunas County Govenor’s Administration Ljungbyhed Airport

5. General Objectives Economic and social cohesion among EU regions Initiating inter-regional co-operations and networks among regional authorities in the EU More efficient use of European regional development tools and instruments Exchange of know-how (best practise) Backbone: EU INTERREG III C Programme Improving relations among “EU family members”

6. The EUROPLANE project partners (regional authorities) were aware of the relevance of regional airports for spatial, socio-economic and regional development and had: pro-actively utilised the INTERREG III C programme opportunities initiated a joint approach to combine their interests as they are responsible for their regional airports successfully applied for an EU co-financing of Euro 560.000(66% of project costs) to cover activities and to answer questions which are necessary for the development of their regional airports Approach of EUROPLANE in INTERREG III C

7. Challenges, market structures, problems but also solutions for Regional Air Transport are very similar in the EU countries…. ...why not make use of different know-how and existing experiences of EU regions, airports and airlines through networking to learn from each other (best practice approach) EUROPLANE Philosophy

8. EUROPLANE: Outputs and Benefits for Regional Authorities • Improved access and new contacts to authorities of other EU regions for best practice approach and better cooperation opportunities (workshops, assemblies) • Relevant analysis and condensed information (5 regional SWOT Analysis, 2 airport business and strategy analyses, 1 regional airports status report, etc.) • Internal promotion of regional airports towards local and national institutions (Airport Information Day in Poznan) • Guidelines for EU co-financing opportunities for regional airport extension projects (Airport Poznan)

9. EUROPLANE: Benefits and Outputs for Regional Airports • Passenger market analysis to set up new flight connections(condensed market analysis to convince airlines) • Best practice approach among regional airport managers on international level (how to approach an LCC ?) • New ideas on business opportunities for sustainable airport existence (set up of logistic airparks, destination development to promote tourism) • Guideline for application of EU funds for airport reconstruction (Poznan Airport) • Access to airport analysis, information and know-how at no cost

10. Output: EUROPLANE Resolution Background Regional airports are important for regional development, for accessibility, for polycentric spatial development in the EU Findings Regional airports may face opposition of national hub airports, large (national) network carriers with good access to national bodies or institutions (political influence), which sometimes holding stakes in network airports. Action Call upon the EU Commission DG TREN to establish policies to encourage national governments to support the sustainable development of regional airports (Resolution)

11. Regional Airports: Competitive Environment Lobbying NationalGovernments NetworkAirlines Hub Airports Lack of Support Fear of new LCCs (Competition) Fear of Competition Regions (Airport Owners) Mutual Benefit Regional Airports Mutual Benefit LowCostCarriers General Policy Support

12. EUROPLANE Resolution • Next steps • Fine tuning of the contents until end of September • Conclusion of a strategy how to submit the resolution towards DG TREN in October • Submission to DG TREN in November • Still open towards other European bodies, assemblies, institutions which are interested in the objective

13. Regional Airport Projects in INTERREG Evolution EUROBIRD EU INTERREG IV C Exec. 2008-2011 EUROPLANE EU INTERREG III C All of Europe Execution 2006-2007 SEAPLANE EU INTERREG III B North Sea Region Execution 2002-2005 SEABIRD EU INTERREG II C Baltic Sea Region Execution 1998-2001 Time

14. Next generation: EUROBIRD - INTERREG IV C E U R O B I R D Project Regions and Airports of EU 27 + Norway and Switzerland Interregional Co-operation | Best Practice Approach| Lisbon Agenda | Gothenburg Agenda Regional Initiative Projects Capitalisation incl.Fast Track Projects • Priority 1: Innovation and the knowledge economy • Airports as a job machine • Airports as a nucleus for economic regional • development • Airport as innovation testing ground • Priority 2: Environment andrisk prevention • Sustainable airport management (energy, waste treatment, de-icing) • Prevention and control of technological risks Building on exisitingnetworks and methods

15. EUROBIRD Project: Some more details • About 15 regions incl. their airports are interested to join – project is still open to new partner regions and airports • Project will consist of up to 10-12 regions plus their airports, • Application in November 2007, approval expected in spring 2008, project duration about 3 years • Co-financing of project costs by EU INTERREG IV C is between 75% and 85% of project budget ( 2-3 mEuro ) Detailed programme information expected at INTERREGIII C/ IV C event in Lisbon, September 20th/21st, 2007

16. EUROPLANE: Support by EU Summary • General Finding of EUROPLANE : EU INTERREG Programme acknowledges the relevance of regional airports for socio and economic cohesion as well as for spatial development in EU • Indirect EU support exist wherever the new INTERREG IV C Programme is actively used by regional airports and regions • INTERREG is very much interested to see active participation from regions in EU policy (resolution as one instrument)