You're listening to the European Parliamentary Research Service podcast on the EU Aviation Strategy.

Aviation is a key driver of economic growth and jobs in Europe and has a major impact on the life and mobility of its citizens. To make the EU aviation sector more competitive, the EU is pushing forward a new set of rules

to make it fly even higher.

The economic weight of the aviation sector in Europe is enormous.

Two million jobs depend on it and indirectly around 5 million.

The sector contributes 110 billion euros to Europe's GDP.

And if we consider the revenues of tourism and other associated sectors, this figure goes up to

510 billion.

That's quite something.

But how did the aviation market develop to this point? Let's take a look at that.

Until the liberalisation of the EU air transport sector in the early 1990s, air transport within the EU was a highly regulated industry and there was limited scope for competition.

But as restrictions on routes, prices or the number of flights were gradually removed,

the sector experienced an unprecedented boom in services.

Increasing competition led to a greater choice of destinations, airports and fares,

connecting more and more European cities and introducing a new concept in the sky, the low-cost carrier.

Indeed, low-cost airlines have largely profited from this liberalisation.

The Irish firm, Ryanair, has announced a 15% net profit margin for this fiscal year.

That's 66% more than the year before.

And profits are also rising for European airspace giants such as Airbus.

But the industry may well be falling victim to its own success.

As passengers are expected to double over the next 20 years,

European skies and airports are at a serious risk of saturation.

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