Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-07-02-Speech-3-294"
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"en.20030702.9.3-294"2
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"Mr President, I would like to address an issue that is of direct concern to my constituents. The helicopter shuttle to the Isles of Scilly provides an essential public service and is the mainstay of the islands' economy. There is no reasonable alternative, and at times it is the only link to the mainland for such essential needs as hospital appointments, education and business. I am sure that there must be similar operations in Europe that might be termed 'social carriers'. I am equally sure that these regulations cannot have been intended to apply to them with the same rigour as to fully-fledged airlines.
The problem lies with mechanical breakdown. Being a shuttle service – for which it is not economically viable to keep spare aircraft – if a breakdown occurs early in the day, all subsequent flights are affected. The cost of compensation and assistance is expected to be so excessive that it would prejudice the economic viability of the service, which might have to be discontinued. If this happened, it would of course have a devastating effect on all Scillonians, whether or not they actually use the service.
In the event of mechanical breakdown, there appears to be some relief afforded by Article 5, in the exemption provided for extraordinary circumstances. However, it is not clear whether an aircraft becoming unavailable for technical reasons qualifies as an extraordinary circumstance. I would ask the Commissioner, therefore, to make it clear that technical reasons – that is, mechanical breakdowns – which affect operational safety, qualify as extraordinary circumstances where they affect what I have termed 'social carriers': shuttle services to islands and peripheral regions.
The proviso, of course, is that routine statutory maintenance should have been fully carried out. To that effect, I ask that a suitable definition be inserted into or attached to the regulations so as to ensure that this lifeline, along with many others, is not forced out of business."@en1
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