In April 2010, the Moldovan Government expressed its wish to start negotiations for a Common Aviation Area Agreement (CAAA) between the EU and Moldova. After assessing the situation and performing the economic analysis of the possible impact of concluding such agreement, the European Commission (EC) started the negotiation of a comprehensive CAAA with Moldova. Priority areas for such agreement were market opening, freedom of establishment, equal conditions of competition and common rules in the areas of aviation safety, security, air traffic management, social conditions and environmental protection. In this context, the EC acknowledged that a project of Technical assistance needed to be introduced in Republic of Moldova.
Successfully delivered by NTU, the EU-funded project “Technical assistance for the implementation of the legal and regulatory framework in the aviation sector” (2013-2016), with a budget of 1.469.362 EUR, had the objective to improve air transport safety and security by assisting civil aviation authorities of the Republic of Moldova in the adoption and implementation of the legal and regulatory framework; in particular, to support the conformity of such framework to the EU aviation legislation, agreed prior in the EU – Moldova CAAA.
How we did it
One of the services that NTU provided for this project was training and knowledge management in the domain of civil aviation to support the drafting and enforcement of a national legal and regulatory framework and procedures. NTU conducted a workshop on EU Airports & Aviation Competition regarding how the EU Regulation for the airports and aviation competition should be implemented in Moldova. The aim of this workshop was to present Moldavian authorities, especially the Civil Aviation Authority, the general overview of their respective roles and to introduce the Common Aviation Agreement regulatory framework on airports and aviation competition.
Impacts:
This workshop gave the opportunity to the participants to learn about their future responsibilities in airports and competition as well as to reflect on their existing practices with the purpose of defining a better way forward to establish a competitive environment with numerous commercial activities. Furthermore, thanks to this activity, the capacity of civil aviation authorities also improved with their roles being clearly defined and the future plan for procedures being laid out. Evidently, they also became more informed and aware of the relevance of EU-Moldova CAAA.
The Workshop on EU Airports & Aviation Competition also contributed to the following overall project outcomes:
- Increased air traffic activity at Chisinau Airport and the development of new destinations accessible to the Moldovan public
- Increased share of air transport in the GDP
- Increased commercial activities with the neighboring countries, facilitating the country`s overall economic development
- Contributions to liaise with other EU-funded projects in the aviation area
The drafting and enforcement of a national legal and regulatory framework and procedures
Meeting of the Steering Committee