Air Transport and the European Union: Europeanization and its Limits

Air Transport and the European Union investigates the emergence of the EU as a major policy actor in aviation and examines how Europeanization has transformed the governance, organization and structure of the sector since the mid-1980s. It addresses the question of how, when a detailed regulatory system already existed, the EU was able to establish its own policy-making competence and to override the wishes of the majority or member states opposed to EU involvement.

European aviation has undergone a revolution since the late 1980s. Liberalization has transformed a sector historically characterized by state interventionism, protectionism and collusion. Despite member state opposition to its involvement, the European Union has become a major force in aviation and the driver of far-reaching change. The book explores how the EU emerged as an actor in aviation, investigates the broadening of policy and examines the impact of EU action on policy and policy-making in the member states and on the industry and its governance beyond. Challenging existing theories and approaches, it argues that greater attention needs to be paid to the international context at all stages of policy development. In exploring the effects of its action on national policy and policy-making in four leading aviation states, the book demonstrates that the EU's impact can most accurately be measured by beginning the analysis at the national level.