HOW TO SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW ROUTES 169 4.4. The grant of social aid Lastly, the Aviation Guidelines63 provides for the category of aid with a social character for air transport services in favour of specific categories of passengers (such as children, students or people with disabilities). The following cumulative conditions must be met for the European Commission to consider the aid as compatible with the internal market: – the aid must effectively be for the benefit of final consumers; – the aid must have a social character, that is, it must, in principle, only cover certain categories of passengers travelling on a route (for instance passengers with particular needs like children, people with disabilities, people on low incomes, students or elderly people); and – the aid must be granted without discrimination as to the origin of the services, meaning irrespective of the airline, which is operating the services. The 2014 Guidelines also mention that “where the route concerned links remote regions, such as outermost regions, islands, and sparsely populated areas, the aid could cover the entire population of that region”. Under the Aviation Guidelines, the aid scheme has to be notified to and approved by the European Commission. And in the GBER, there is a similar provision, offering the possibility to grant social aid for transport for residents of remote regions64. The compatibility conditions are similar: – The entire aid shall be for the benefit of final consumers who have their usual residence in remote regions; – The aid shall be granted for passenger transport on a route linking an airport or port in a remote region with another airport or port within the European Economic Area; – The aid shall be granted without discrimination as to the identity of the carrier or type of service and without limitation as to the precise route to or from the remote region; – The eligible costs shall be the price of a return ticket from or to the remote region, including all taxes and charges invoiced by the carrier to the consumer; and – The aid intensity shall not exceed 100% of the eligible costs. 63 Op. cit. 64 Article 51.
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