EU to ok aid
From BBC:
The European Commission (EC) is likely to look "favourably" on some state subsidies to airlines following the attacks in the US on 11 September.
The details of the provisional report - likely to be formally adopted by the Commission at its meeting on Wednesday - were obtained exclusively by the BBC's World Business Report.
The issue of state aid to airlines has been forced onto the EC agenda in recent weeks, following the US attacks which forced airlines to cut capacity and make redundancies.
The US has already outlined plans to compensate its airlines, and European airlines are eager to find out what, if any, subsidies would be approved by the normally strict Commission.
Four-day breather
The EC will "look favourably" on state subsidies to compensate airlines for their losses during the four days in which US airspace was closed and for losses directly linked to the closure of US airspace, the report said.
The Commission will also consider allowing state aid to cover airlines' extra insurance costs for one month.
This may be extended until the end of the year provided there is a definite need and those subsidies do not put airlines in a "more favourable" situation than before the extra insurance premiums were introduced.
The Commission believes that the reinforcement of certain airline safety measures should be assumed by public authorities
Agreements between airlines aimed to ensure regular service on lower-density routes will also be encouraged.
Slot rules relaxed
Normally, unused slots would be returned to a slot pool for distribution if they are unused for a set period of the season.
This rule is expected to be waived, with airlines retaining control of the slots they have at least for the summer 2002 season.
Similar measures could be put into place for the winter season.
US aid
US President George W Bush has signed into law a $15bn (£1.05bn) aid package for the country's airlines industry, to ease a financial crisis stemming from last week's terrorist attacks.
As part of the paper, the Commission will attempt to set up a "Code of good conduct" with the US to prevent EU airlines being placed at a disadvantage because of US subsidies.
The world airlines' club expects industry losses to be three times greater than originally expected, following September's terrorist attacks in the US.
The International Air Transport Agency (IATA) had forecast losses of $2.5bn (£1.75bn) this year - it now expects losses in the region of $7bn (£4.8bn).