Mr. Filip Cornelis:

Deputy Carey asked why we do not harmonise more, and more quickly. The reality is that everything that relates to public health is a national competence, and there are no instruments at EU level to impose measures. That is why we are using guidance material, such as that produced by the ECDC and the EASA, and recommendations, which are only as good as their quality and as good as they are in convincing member states that they are the right way forward. We have been quite successful with the health safety protocol that was published in May. It has been very well applied. EASA put in place a system of monitoring to assess the level of compliance with the guidance, and also to determine the impact on the risks of transmission onboard. On both of those counts, the health safety guidance has been quite successful. My hope would be that with a new health testing protocol, we could achieve similar results, provided we are able to convince the health authorities of member states that it is a sound way forward. That is why this work is being done very thoroughly together with the health experts of the ECDC and the member states.

On the Cyprus scheme, this is probably a gross simplification, but the way I understand it works is that the state provides a level of aid per flight on the basis of the load factor.

If the load factor on the flight is above 70%, there is no aid because the flight is considered to be profit-making or at least breaking even. If it is as low as 40%, however, a level of aid is given that is proportionate to the missing load factor. In that way, it gives security to the airlines that operate the route that they will not make losses despite the fact that, at least in the start-up phase, there will not be many passengers. Furthermore, in the current climate, load factors are likely to remain depressed because demand will be depressed. What is good about the scheme is that it gives aid proportionate to the actual need on a flight and it is open to all airlines on a non-discriminatory basis.