With many regional airports struggling to recover from the economic hardship caused by the pandemic, members of the European Committee of the Regions overwhelmingly adopted an opinion on 1 July, drawn up by ECR President Marshal Władysław Ortyl.

The opinion calls on the European Commission to develop more flexible and more effective public aid rules that enable Member States to provide regional airports with financial assistance and also emphasizes that financial support must be invested in making airports more sustainable in order to help achieve the objectives set out in the European Green Deal.

Regional airports have found themselves in serious economic difficulties due to the pandemic. Intra-European air traffic was down by 54% in 2020 compared to 2019 and even as travel restrictions are being loosened this summer, traffic is still far from pre-pandemic levels. In October 2020, nearly 200 airports in Europe were facing insolvency. Their bankruptcy would have a dramatic impact on employment and the economies of the regions where they are located and would also be a major blow for the connectivity of many regions, especially outermost or less developed regions where alternative forms of transport are not available.

Marshal Ortyl who also serves as President of the Podkarpackie region, said: "Regional airports play a crucial role for the territorial and economic cohesion of the EU – they provide connectivity for the regions they serve and are vital for economic growth. Without their presence, many companies would not invest in non-capital regions. The tourism sector also depends heavily on them. We need a more flexible state aid system to support the recovery of regional airports during and after the pandemic. In the opinion I prepared I also underline that the majority of European regional airports require assistance to be able to survive in the light of the current crisis."

The opinion also calls for the involvement of Members States, in cooperation with the European Commission, in carefully assessing the extent of possible support for regional airports under the national recovery and resilience plans.